The End of The Beginning
by burgundy11
Summary: The final battle at the Dragon's Table has concluded, and left in its wake a man who begins to blur the lines between humanity, godhood, and madness. This is the final story of the world, this is the story of the end of the world.
1. Prologue part 1

**AN- This is a story I have been tossing ideas about for a while, it takes place in the original timeline(the one adult Lucina is from). The main premise being a what if Robin was not possessed by Grima, but instead the two were literally one and the same, that the only difference between the two was their memories, experiences, and interactions with others that shaped them and led to their different decisions and outcomes. I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed thinking it up and writing.**

 **Either way, have fun and let me know your thoughts, discussing this stuff is just as enjoyable as writing it.**

* * *

The city of Ylissetol was seeing more activity in the last few weeks than it had seen in the last few years. Soldiers, citizens, merchants, mages, and all manners of people moved to and fro within the many streets and districts of the city in their respective roles; as the recent summons, by none other than the Exalt himself, had called forth the battle hardened and veteran Ylissen Royal Army to muster at the capital in preparation for their final battle of the conflict with Plegia. Rumor had it that the army was going forth to not only rout the gathering Plegian forces at the Dragon's Table, but to also prevent some manner of dark ritual being perpetrated by the Grimleal stationed there.

If one considered the city in its current state to be calm, then the palace itself was in a state of chaos as a small army of squires, officers, and logistical officers plowed through the inordinate amount of work needed to be done in preparation for the upcoming campaign. Of these staffers, a certain Plegian Tactician was currently in his office pouring over the finalized missives to be sent to the various units assembling around the city. Running his hand through his silvery hair, the tactician looked over the documents one final time before reaching into his signature purple coat and pulling out a stamp press. After stamping each document, he passed it to the waiting messenger in the corner. "Alright, each one of these missives are to be delivered to the unit commanders outside of the city, ten letters for ten commanders, understood?

The messenger saluted in response, "Yes sir, I'll have these delivered at once, anything else lord tactician?"

The tactician simply shook his head, "No, you are dismissed."

At this the messenger quickly exited the room and set about his task, as for the tactician, he merely slouched in his chair as he tried to relax now that he had finally burned through the mountains of paperwork the campaign had dumped on his desk.

"That good for nothing Exalt of mine better not be shirking off and dicking about in the training yard while I am trapped in here," he muttered to himself as he approached his window overlooking the castle's main drill yard.

Scanning the field below him, he quickly located a certain blue haired lout sparring with a certain shirtless blonde.

"Chrom...", the tactician ground out as he quickly grabbed some of the duplicate paperwork and bunched it up into a thick ball. As the two men sparred below, the tactician took aim and launched the the wad of paper with a burst of wind magic into the back of the blue lordling's head.

Thrown off by the sudden hit to the back of his head, Chrom spun around to be greeted by the sight of his tactician grinning while giving him a single finger salute.

"What did Teach tell you about not paying attention in class!" the Blond man bellowed as he took advantage of Chrom's lapse to deliver a firm hit with the flat of his axe on Chrom's back. The force of said blow sending the man sprawling into the dirt as his balance was completely destroyed by the attack.

"That is what you get for dumping all this paperwork on me while you fool around with Vaike, Chrom!" Robin shouted as he closed the window and retreated into his office as he heard Chrom curse him for throwing his match.

Returning to his desk. The tactician slumped in his chair as he rested his eyes from all the reading he had done the last few weeks. As he yawned and stretched his arms, the door to his office slowly creaked open, the tactician looked over and recognized a familiar pair of blue eyes peaking at him through the crack. "Well, well, I take it you're giving old Freddy Bear the run around again Lucy?"

At this the door creaked open and the elder princess slipped into the room as she shut the door behind her.

"I don't know if you want to hide here though, whenever he gets upset he usually comes to dump more paperwork on me as stress relief, I am starting to think he might be a sadist." he said with a chuckle.

As Lucina slowly edged forward, the tactician noticed that her eyes were red and that she was sniffling. "Crying I see, care to tell why?" he said as he motioned her to sit down on the spare chair he kept in the office.

While rubbing her eyes, Lucina pulled the chair up and slowly began to speak in a soft voice, "I... I was playing in the corridors with Kjelle and Severa, when we saw some of the knights stationed here speaking, they said that since the Grimleal have the Fire Emblem, we won't be able to stop them and that you and Father are leading the army into a grave, that isn't true, right Robin?"

At this Robin chuckled, "Is that all Lucina?" he said as he rubbed her head. "If I had a Florin for every time Chrom and I went up against lousy odds I could probably open my own bank."

At this Lucina looked at him quizzically, "If you want to open a bank couldn't father loan you the money?"

Robin simultaneously chuckled and groaned at the princess misunderstanding another euphemism, "Lucy, sometimes I really do worry that you take after Chrom and his density too much." Shaking his head, Robin decided that teaching Lucy the concept of Euphemisms would unfortunately have to wait for another day. "So why don't you tell me how your sword drills are going, Chrom may be as dense as a wall at times, but he can definitely make a sword sing."

At this, some of the dark clouds lingering over Lucina began to disperse, "Father said I have the techniques learned, and that all I need now is practice, lots of practice."

Robin nodded approvingly, "very good Lucy, hit the practice yard every day, and maybe in a decade you can tell teach to tap out and let you smack Chrom around for a change."

Lucina beamed at the praise.

"And what about magic, your mother just started teaching your sister, but you've been at it for a few years now. Made any new progress?"

And Lucina's smile rapidly reversed at his comment, "I can create a gust of wind."

Robin winced slightly at this, "I know, but you have been able to do that for a while, have you managed some progress?"

Lucina simply looked glum.

"Its not a big deal," he said as he rubbed her head reassuringly, "nobody became an arch sage in a few years, the best mages became the best because they kept at it and focused on it their entire lives, its something that grows with you."

Lucian looked up to him, "even you?"

Robin chuckled, "even little old me."

"So who taught you then when you were a kid?"

At this Robins voice caught in the back of his throat as memories of his childhood flooded in. He recalled the gruelling drills his father had subjected him to from the moment he could walk and how he would be drilled on martial combat, practical magic, theoretical magic, and every other subject under the sun. The fact that Robin could even keep up with the regimen at all was a testament to his inborn talent, but spending the formative years of your life constantly exhausted, beaten, and broken from constant exertion and pressure left a hidden mark that Robin had never quite come to terms with.

Robin started when he suddenly felt a tug at his sleeve, "You alright? You look like you ate a bad oyster. Father ate one once and couldn't get out of bed for a week, should I get auntie?" She said with a look of concern.

Robin sighed, "no Lucy, just remembering my parents, it doesn't matter though."

"You never seem to talk about them, you don't like them, do you?"

Robin was slightly taken aback by Lucina's insight, for all her density in regards to humor, she could be surprisingly perceptive at times, "half-credit for your answer, mother was alright, father can go rot for all I care."

"Well then, I suppose now you get a chance to finally thank him for your childhood then, eh?" Looking up Robin saw Chrom slowly enter the room, his usual sparring attire caked with a thin layer of dirt, "Oh, and thank you for your help earlier, I definitely needed Vaike to send me into the dirt, it really filled out my day."

"Think of it as a handicap, adapt and overcome and all that." Robin said as he chuckled at the Exalt, "Obviously you need more practice if you can get thrown off that easily." Smirking as he continued, "though with how well you dodge paperwork I half expected you to dodge that wad of paperI sent your way."

Chrom went red at the mention of his delinquency, "uh... well I figured that we should... all focus on what were best at?" He offered weakly.

"Quite, and that is why your outside getting tossed around by Vaike," Robin quipped back while smirking, "my head is too valuable to damage unlike yours; after all, how much skill does it take to sit on a throne all day."

Chrom sighed, until he noticed Lucina tugging at his sleeve, "hey there Lucy, coming to take my side over your evil uncle over there?"

Lucina stared Chrom in the eyes, "I think Robin is calling you a dolt."

Chrom winced at his daughter's bluntness.

"He said you were dense before, so I wanted to make sure you knew." she proffered flatly.

Chrom simply leveled a stair at the tactician who was currently trying(and failing) to suppress his laughter, "remember Robin, though your head may be valuable, if you don't tread carefully, you could lose it."

"Peace, I surrender," Robin raised his hands up in mock surrender, "Either way, I take it you came up here for a reason other than complaining about your lost match?"

"Right, I heard from Frederick about a certain crying Princess that was seen heading this way." Chrom knelt down to Lucina's level as he grasped her hand, "so why don't you tell me whats got you worked up dearie."

Lucina's smile from the previous conversation faded as the incident from earlier cropped back up, "Its just I don't want you two to go, what if you don't come back this time like some of the knights are saying?"

Chrom smiled, "Simple solution then, I promise I'll be back before you know it then, and once we are back we can celebrate your birthday, after all, you turn twelve in a month, right Robin?"

"Right you are, and seeing as how we won't be here for the special day most likely, I got you your gift early." Walking towards his bookcase, Robin extracted one of the books lying on the top of it and turned to hand it to Lucina.

Receiving the book from Robin, Lucina looked over the cover and noted that the book seemed to be very old, but well-maintained none the less. "The Plegian Lieutenant's Guide to Tactics and Strategy." she whispered as she looked over the title.

Robin smiled as she read the name, "Correct, mother gave me that book years ago, and once I get back I can dump all the paperwork on Chrom with no more crisis going on and have some time to kill. So start reading it and I can start teaching you tactics and strategy."

Lucina looked at Robin and Chrom with a nervous knot forming in her stomach, "you think I could be a tactician like you?"

"Easily!" Robin blurted out. "Between your parents and myself, we will make you a sword slinging, spell flinging, army leading Exalt in no time." Robin cocked his head to the side in thought for a moment, "Exalt to be actually, though I wouldn't put it past Chrom to try and use death as a way to weasel out of this blasted paperwork."

"Ahem" the three occupants of the room turned to the doorway to see a familiar knight standing in it. "Milord, Milady, Sir Robin, I shan't have to remind you of the ongoing preparations that require your attention, much work remains to be done."

"Frederick, its just a short break, no harm in that right?" Pleaded Chrom.

Frederick simply maintained his trademark stare at the two delinquents in front of him.

Robin stepped forward, "Fine, you win, back to work, that includes you Chrom."

Chrom sulked at getting roped back into his job, "Seems I have no choice, Frederick, you mind taking Lucina back to the Royal wing?

Frederick nodded, "Of course milord." Extending his hand out to the princess, "Shall we milady."

Lucina grasped his hand as the two began to leave, "Bye father, bye Robin, thanks for the gift."

The two men watched the knight and princess depart, "Alright Chrom, the sooner we get back to it, the sooner we can be done."

* * *

As Robin oversaw the final stages of loading for their supplies, he went from cart to cart looking over them, unaware of the presence approaching from behind. "Ah, Lord Robin."

At the sound of an unfortunately familiar voice behind him, Robin began to scowl and tense up in preparation for what was likely to be an excessively unenjoyable discussion with one of the more detestable men of the kingdom.

Forcing a calm, stoic look upon his face, Robin turned to face the approaching voice. Its owner, by all looks, a noble from the way he carried himself. While actually an attractive man in his late 30s with a strong set face, well kept brown hair, and determined, fierce eyes; alas, his looks were deceiving as to his actual character. "Ah... Duke Lamprius, its good to see you, I did not think you would be in the capital." Robin forced out with as neutral a tone as he could muster.

Some of the nobility, such as Maribelle's father the Duke of Themis, were honorable, upstanding men who tried to do right by their lands and the realm as a whole. Epitomizing everything that was truly noble about mankind. Most nobility, while not paragons of honor and justice, were at least reasonable men that knew that needlessly antagonizing your own people was pointless and unproductive in the long, and they were generally easy to work with even if they were prone to grandstanding and being somewhat insufferable at times. Then there were men like Duke Lamprius, who were everything the Duke of Themis was not; men who were perfectly willing to let the peasants under their care suffer for their own personnel gain. Unfortunately for Robin, as Grand master of Ylisse, he had the immense joy of having to deal with these great nobles and their antics. After nearly twelve years of this, Robin was looking forward to the end of the conflict so he could stop caring and tell them to kindly fuck off. Everyone needs dreams to look forward to after all.

Lamprius scoffed at Robins remark, "the realm is preparing for what is to be one of its greatest battles with those heathens to the east, no offense to you Lord Tactician, and I would not be here? It would be remiss of me to not visit the capital to lend the Exalt my support in this trying time."

"Quite so," Robin replied as he ground his teeth at the Duke's earlier comment, "so I take it you will be joining us for the campaign with the forces from your dukedom?"

The duke smiled at this, "unfortunately the conduct and commission of war was never my forte, I do hope you and the Exalt forgive me for this lacking on my part, and find that the men and funds to be a suitable contribution to the campaign regardless of my direct participation."

"A shame, even the presence of local leaders has a major impact on the fighting spirit of soldiers, regardless of whether they are under arms or not."

"Very true, but we can't all rush off to war in these times," Lamprius responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the word, "after all, some must remain in the kingdom to ensure law and order are maintained, it would be quite unfortunate to win the war only to return to a smoldering heap, correct?"

Robin sighed internally, "correct," looking back at the carts, Robin noticed that the loading on them was nearly finished and they were preparing to move them to the various units they would be attached to, "it seems the men are almost finished loading, if you will excuse me I must return to my duties, if you are looking for the Exalt he should be in his office at the palace, good day duke."

"Good day to you Lord Tactician."

Beating a hasty retreat, Robin scowled at the conversation he just had. The most infuriating part being that the Duke was correct in almost every regard, not all nobles are competent soldiers and some do need to remain behind to prevent anarchy; if only Lamprius didn't spend all his time while he and Chrom were in Valm abusing his authority and exploiting the free hand he had with no royal oversight, Robin might of thought better of the man. Unfortunately though, the man was a slimy snake, polite and respectful to those with power, and ruthless and cruel to those he could abuse with no repercussions.

Robin could only hope that with Frederick, some of the shepherds, and the Queen staying behind, that Lamprius and his like minded fellows wouldn't be able to perform an encore of their acts on the home front during the Valmese Wars. At the very least, Robin and Chrom wouldn't be gone for more than a single season most likely and with Plegia being their neighbor, Lamprius would listen to his caution and not try anything ludicrous with them so close by and due to return soon.

* * *

The Ylissen Army had spent the last several weeks marching towards the Dragon's table, and were finally within sight of their goal and the Plegian army surrounding it, they set camp one final time before the fateful battle would begin in the morning. Robin paced the perimeter, ensuring sentries were in place and ready to spot any Plegian attempts at a night raid or other preemptive moves. Looking at the immense black spire in the horizon though, Robin knew it was ultimately unnecesary given the state of the Plegian Army and the kingdom in general.

Plegia and Ylisse, while sharing common ancestry and origins, have had centuries to diverge in terms of military style and tactics, each carefully developed to exploit their countries tactics and available. Ylisse, being rich in arable land, had an immense population and no shortage recruits for its military, even in the worst of times; unfortunately, this has lead to times in the past where when discounting the royal knights and sky knights, you were left with a large, but wildly varied army in terms of quality and training. Levies from places such as Ylissetol, Themis, Jungdren, or the port of Solis in the south supplied large levies that at least had adequate training,equipment, and leadership, not shock troops, but still more than serviceable. Whereas smaller, poorer settlements like Southtown provided the equivalent of conscript peasants with atrocious morale and leadership who served little to no purpose on the field.

To counteract this unpredictability in quality, the earliest Exalts formed first the Royal Ylissen knights, and later the Ylissen Sky knights, after all horses were in plentiful supply in Ylisse and control of the Elysian Fields to the east gave Ylisse a monopoly on the continent's pegasi population. These two groups formed the core of any royal army, providing an immense value in both shock and flexibility. The knights, when on foot able to provide an elite corps of heavy infantry, or when mounted supplying Ylisse's vaunted heavy cavalry. The Sky Knights providing an excellent force of scouts, skirmishers, and raiders able to move quickly and strike in unexpected places; more importantly however, Robin knew they were the only group on the continent with the training and numbers to stand up to the Plegian Wyvern Order and not get butchered for their trouble.

Plegia, on the other hand possessed a usually smaller, but far better trained and equipped army. While this was likely due to the relatively smaller population, combined with the immense mining and industrial activity in the western and southern ends of the country; thus allowing for them to field an incredibly well equipped and trained army. Plegian History claims the beginning of this began with Grima, the Fell Dragon and the patron of the Plegian people, being a general and leader in his own right, pushed the Plegian military down this path via his own thoughts and experience with strategy and tactics; While Robin was unsure of the veracity of this, he begrudgingly admitted fighting Plegia with Ylissen forces in the last war made it abundantly clear that even with poor leadership, Plegian forces typically outclassed their more numerous Ylissen counterparts and were extremely dangerous. Since the beginning, the Plegian military has been built around three major arms: first its heavy infantry forces providing a stable, strong front to fix the enemy upon; Secondly, its archer and mage corps providing fire support for the infantry in front; and finally, Plegia's vaunted wyvern riders providing a force as mobile as a the Ylissen Pegasi knights, but as hard hitting as a swarm of Feroxi beserkers, a combination that gave Robin no shortage of headaches when facing them last time. As Ylisse controlled the continents supply of pegasi, Plegia controlled the continent's supply of wyverns in southern Plegia giving them an immense advantage in having the only significant force of wyvern knights on the continent.

All of this said though, the Ylissen Crusades and the last twelve years of near constant warfare had done much to throw these facts on their collective heads. The Large but relatively green Ylissen forces were still quite large, but filled to the brim with veterans from three major conflicts, and while equipment varied widely, Robin and Chrom's efforts to reform the military in the wake of the Plegian war of Revenge had ironically begun to push the Ylissen army towards mirroring their Plegian counterparts, much to the displeasure of certain nobles. Robin assumed this was not due to general dislike of Plegia in Ylisse, but more likely due to their distaste for the increase in royal power that follows possession of a large robust military, but Robin was well past caring what those nobles thought at this point.

While Ylisse had ultimately grown stronger from the conflicts, the Plegian army had suffered immensely in the last three wars, with the Crusades destroying a portion of it's population and the constant fighting eroding their supply of experienced soldiers. While still well equipped, their heavy infantry's feet were unsteady, their archers aim untrue, and their mages unskilled. Only their wyvern knights retained their strength through the conflicts, but one strong arm and two shriveled stubs was nowhere near a complete and comprehensive army.

"Someone's head seems to be turning some gears," the Exalt said as he chuckled and came up aside Robin, "thinking of tomorrow?"

"They aren't fighting to win."

Chrom's brows furrowed at Robin's comment, "What? Then what are they..." understanding dawned on Chrom's face as the pieces clicked in, "they are simply trying to stall us."

"Nothing else makes sense, but what they are stalling for I don't know. After all, none of our spies or scouts have been able to figure out exactly what the Grimleal are doing in the table, all they know is that its big." At this Robin chuckled, "which isn't very enlightening when you can figure that out just by how they are acting, they wouldn't drag their army out here into the middle of the desert for a party."

"I take it we are using your backup plan then?" Chrom said as he turned to take in the sight of the spire on the horizon.

Robin nodded, "Have the footmen roll up on their flanks, forcing the Plegian infantry to shift away from the center. Then have the Royal knights and supporting cavalry charge the center and open a gap for us to enter the Spire. The Sky Knights will run interference and keep their wyverns busy." Robin frowned as he went through the plan's overview, "Not exactly graceful or efficient, but its clear we need to be inside the spire sooner rather than later."

"Agreed," turning away from the spire, Chrom clasped Robin's shoulder, "don't look so glum, its been a long journey, tomorrow is it, one more push and we have that better tomorrow everyone has always hoped."

Robin smiled, "one more push, at least this time we are the one's with the stacked odds, definitely a good change from the typically hopeless situations we find ourselves in."

"Definitely so," Chrom said as he smirked at their fortune for once, "you go to bed, Ill let everyone know what were doing tomorrow."

"Alright Chrom," Robin began to head towards his tent, after a few steps though he stopped and turned back to Chrom, "Chrom... thanks... for everything."

"No need, were family, always will be, I'll see you in the morning Robin."

* * *

 **AN- If you saw my previous story, I have obviously decided to take a mulligan at it for three reasons. First I felt it was a bit bare in places, second I was not happy with the quality in a few places, and finally I have decided to commit to all but one of the ideas I had about the story( the last one is a bit of a big one and I am still hemming and hawing on it, though you can see some hints towards what it might be if you notice some stuff that is present and conspicuously missing). If you don't mind being spoilered a bit, drop me a pm asking about this and Ill gladly tell you what the idea is as additional thoughts on it would be nice so as to see if I am digging myself into a hole or if it could definitely spice up the story in a different way. All I ask is that you humor me and take a guess at what you think it is.**

 **That all being said, I am putting it all in a new story so I can easily manage it all and be able to access the stuff I kept in the old one for quick reference. All in all I seek to improve size and quality; so what you, my interested readers can do, is simply drop me a review or pm letting me know what you think of the content and the quality, especially in comparison to the old version if you read it before or decide to read it now for whatever reason.**

 **Either way, see you soon.**


	2. Prologue part 2

A cacophony of trumpets, horns, shouting, and marching surrounded Robin as he, Chrom, and the assorted shepherds accompanying them waited with the Ylissen Royal Knights as the rest of the army initiated Robin's plan to breakthrough the Plegian formations and carve a path to the Table for them.

"Well Robin, ready for the end?" Robin stood and observed the various formations advance as Chrom strode aside him in his full plate suit, "because this is how it begins."

"Actually wearing that thing for once? Last time I tried you cried like a baby about how you can't move in it."

"Its not as if you aren't wearing some as well," Robin for his part was wearing his signature coat, but underneath it he also had an extremely polished steel breastplate and a set of greaves and heavy set gloves to round it out, "I remember the headaches you gave everyone when we tried to get you to wear more than your damn coat and tunic"

"Its a nice coat and tunic you know," Robin said with a pout.

"So I've heard," at that moment however, several horn went off signaling the left and right elements of the Ylissen infantry to break off and begin their attempt to envelope the Plegian army, "I guess now we get to see if the Plegians take the bait or if they are simply going to retreat in. I hope it doesn't take forever."

Robin huffed at his friend's impatience, "you do remember how much waiting we have to do in battle, right? Remember Valm, that was probably 5 percent battles, 15 percent running for our lives, and 80 percent sitting around waiting for something to happen."

As the two continued to bicker, the Ylissen regiments on the field before them continued their steady march towards the Plegian positions before them. As the plan called for, roughly half of the Ylissen footmen split off from the center and began to push forward towards the Plegian flanks in an effort to force them to thin out their line or risk being bypassed and surrounded. While normally a smaller force in this situation would try to pull back to more closed ground to prevent this from happening, they could not withdraw from the Table; and since the Table was not a fortress, they did not have the positions available to them in order to allow them to fight the Ylissens in a more defensive position. As such, the Plegian forces sluggishly shifted to oppose the Ylissen forces moving on their flanks, if only to stall them and drag the battle out.

"Unfortunately I do remember that enjoyable chapter of our lives, and it looks that today will be one of the five percent days," Chrom grimaced as he looked at the Plegians who were moving to counter them and give battle.

Looking out behind him, Chrom gained sight of their own pegasi riders stationed behind their forces awaiting their winged opponents moves. While most were on the ground waiting to take to the air, a handful were high up in order to aid in their spotting and also be ready to quickly intercept the Plegian riders should they try to perform an immediate attack with the few riders they had mirroring their owns movements.

"I doubt the pegasi and wyvern riders will clash much today." Chrom turned to robin with his brows arched, "the wyvern riders aren't much use in a stalling battle, at least outside of keeping our own pegasi from dominating the air. Therefore they will only commit if our pegasi commit."

"And your plan doesn't call for the pegasi to do much other than stare down the wyverns," Robin nodded in agreement, "sounds boring."

"Remember what I said about waiting."

"At least Cordelia and Sumia have time to catch up on their reading," Chrom said as he recalled the two shepherds peculiar choices in reading material, "can't believe they are into that junk."

"Its not all bad."

Chrom's head slowly turned to his tactician as he leveled a blank stare at his absurdity, "The Princess that Fell Down the Stairs."

"It has some literary merits," Robin replied sheepishly as he desperately looked for anything of interest nearby.

Chrom's stare remain unchanged, "Robin, I need you to say that again, but this time look at me in the eyes when you do so."

"Shouldn't we be focusing on the battle," Robin stammered out in a desperate attempt to change the topic.

"Sure Robin, sure." Looking back over the field, the two men took note that the left and right flanks had picked up their pace and were minutes away from meeting the Plegian forces arrayed against them, the center however was slowly advancing so as it could make way for the cavalry once the time was right.

With the trepidation and anxiety that comes with every battle, the two watched the opposing lines of infantry advance on one another, and almost in slow motion, collide and crush into one another.

"Alright Chrom, its time."

Chrom turned to a nearby green clad knight who seemed to be more enamored with the bread he was munching on then the battle before him, "you heard the man Stahl, less eating, more charging, we have a battle to win!"

Stahl tossed his the remains of the roll aside and pulled a horn from his saddle, "You heard the Exalt men, remember, if we muck this up Frederick will run us through his fanatical fitness hour till we have stubs for limbs." Amidst the chuckling knights, Stahl blew the horn signaling the knights to begin their trot towards the center, but also for their own infantry to form channels in their line to allow them through.

As the shepherds and a handful of their more veteran infantry stood to the side watching the cavalry pass them by, they slowly began to march towards the spire in their wake.

Once past their own infantry, Stahl blew his horn a second time, signaling to the cavalry to go from a trot to a full charge as they closed the last few hundred meters to the Plegian center amidst arrows and spell fire. Undaunted by the fire, the Ylissen knights bellowed a wordless war cry as they collide with the Plegians in a crushing impact.

Normally, when cavalry charged heavy infantry in a prepared line, the charge fails and is repulsed, however, due to the Plegians being forced to thin their lines to block the Ylissens on their flanks, and the general ill preparedness of their own men, the cavalry managed to pierce through their line in several places, throwing the Plegian line into chaos as the mounted Ylissen riders cut down the Plegians with lance and blade.

While the battle would doubtless rage on as the Plegians would try to reform and regroup, they had been forced away from the entrance to the Table, allowing the Shepherds and the Ylissen infantry nearby to assault its entrance.

* * *

Whereas before, the Shepherds had been milling about as the battle dragged on before. Now that they were advancing on the main entrance to the spire, time had begun to speed up as they neared the supposed location of the enemy commander and several elements of the Grimleal's elite guardsmen.

At the head of the advancing Ylissens, the Exalt himself lead the charge like the many other times he had done so. "Shepherds of Ylisse, now is our final battle against Grima; remember our oaths to one another and carry each other through our final push, FOR YLISSE!" Echoing their commander's cry, the shepherds and the Ylissen infantry with them crashed into the Grimleal as a wave of flesh and steel.

At the center of the maelstrom of battle before the gates, the Exalt and his Grand Master were in the thickest fighting. Facing off with a heavy Plegian knight, Chrom expertly deflected the knights lance thrust with the angling of his armor. Lurching forward from his momentum, the knights shaky balance was quickly exploited by Chrom through a point blank kick to the shin, with an audible crack followed by a shriek of pain from the knight. Seizing the momentum he had gained, Chrom followed up with another kick to the knight's gut sending him into the dirt with the Falchion chasing his heart and finishing the man.

Pulling his blade from his opponents chest, Chrom quickly pushed forward into an enemy man-at-arms. His opponent using a broadsword and shield, Chrom simply began to unleash an avalanche of blows, his strikes being as overwhelming as they were to keep up with the torrent of strikes coming at him, the soldier's shield eventually took a strike from Chrom dead on, with Falchion slicing straight through the battered shield and taking the enemy's arm in its wake. Dropping to the ground as he clutched his bleeding stub in shock, the soldier had no defense prepared as Chrom brought his pommel down on his head and collapsing him into the sand below.

Nearby, the Ylissen Grand Master was lashing out on the foes before him as the battle raged on. While Chrom's particular style of fighting had all the subtlety of an avalanche(and the power to match), Robin's style of fighting could best be compared to a tornado as his blows came in unpredictable flurries and could range from a tried and true blade, a raging fireball, or a precise shot of thunder.

His current opponent, a sword master, was currently dealing poorly with this fact as Robin would consistently unleash several lethal strikes in quick succession, only to break the pattern randomly with spell fire, thus constantly keeping the swordsman on the defensive and incapable of launching his own offensive. Inevitably, the swordsman's agility failed him and Robin caught him with the tip of his jagged blade, sending an electrocuting charge into the swordsman.

Convulsing from the charge, the swordsman was paralyzed as the blade came down a second time, this time hitting him square in the neck and putting him out of his misery.

As the two men and their fellow shepherds rampaged across the battlefield, the balance rapidly began to shift towards the Ylissens, as they suffered light casualties compared to the brutal annihilation the Grimleal were experiencing. Slowly but surely, the Ylissens pushed through the Grimleal, ending up at the steps leading to the immense doors of the spire; however, sitting before it was a familiar pegasus rider wearing a rather revealing Plegian battle dress with long silver hair reaching to her back, the color same as her brother's. "Aversa, you're the enemy commander!" Running forward, Robin ended a dozen steps away from his estranged sibling. "You cannot win here, even you can see that, now get out of our way or be shoved out of our way!"

"My my," Aversa smirked as she took notice of Robin, "it seems my little brother has become quite the bold one in my absence."

"I have no time for your antics," Robin flourished his sword at her, "last chance."

Aversa began to cackle at Robin, "don't get to worked up dearie, this really is all for the best, you will see."

"Suit yourself," his decision made, Robin began to ready a spell as he advanced towards Aversa.

Seeing the tactician advance on her, Aversa stared at him for a moment in thought, "I really couldn't hold a candle to you before, you were always the scrapper of the two of us, but you don't have all your power, maybe I can win this one for once."

"Delusional as well Aversa?" Robin shook his head, "We've never fought before, what are you talking about?"

"Don't worry little boy, you will figure it out eventually, even as you continue to dance to a forgotten tune," Aversa said as she spurred her midnight black pegasus into action.

Seeing Aversa take off, unleashed a gout of flame in a fanning motion in an attempt to keep her on the ground, anticipating this, Aversa used her free hand to blast a tunnel of wind to clear a channel for her and her mount to slip through into higher air.

His attempt to keep her grounded a failure, Robin altered his strategy and began to launch fireballs repeatedly into the air, hoping their subsequent explosions would hit her, or at least that the shock waves might throw her from her mount.

For her part, Aversa expertly bobbed and weaved through the spells exploding around her. "Please Robin, you know you have to do better than this," wheeling her pegasus around, Aversa began to return fire with several shots of lightning.

Seeing the incoming fire, Robin tumbled into the alcoves by the stairs, jumping between them as bolts of lightning slammed into the stone edifices around him.

Sprinting and dodging as fast as he could, Robin noticed what seemed to be a dark puddle form in front of him. Realizing he was moments away from being engulfed by a flux shot, Robin catapulted himself above its reach with a timely burst of wind magic.

Dodging the flux as it wiped the area around it from existence, Robin realized several more flux spells had formed around him and were slowly preparing to go off. Looking up he saw Aversa grinning maniacally at him.

"And now you are cornered dear brother, don't worry, this won't hurt... well, too much at least."Aversa quickly launched a rather large ball of magefire at Robin. "Try dodging this!"

"No need Aversa," with a smirk, Robin channeled as much power into his levin sword as possible, using it to slap the spell away from him a moment before impact. "Check Aversa!"

Caught off guard by his improvised magical bat and the fireball quickly making its way back to its sender. Aversa barely dove out of its way before the fireball went off. However, the shock waves combined with her rapid descent gave her too much momentum to pull up and avoid crashing into the sand in a heap with her mount.

As Aversa clambered up from her incapacitated mount, her gaze quickly spun around until locking onto her lance as it lay in the sand a good few feet away.

Seeing the target of her gaze Robin quickly dashed in an attempt to intercept her before she could reach it. Rolling to seize her lance, Aversa spun around as she stood, leveling the lance at Robin's chest as he slid to a halt, "I rather like my pegasus brother," snarling at Robin for the wounded creature, "I'm sure Validar won't mind if I break an arm before you reach him."

"Heh, if the previous fight and the battle itself are anything to go by," Robin said with a nasty grin on his face, "you may want to consider surrendering now before things get any worse for you."

"Little man," Aversa was now openly laughing in Robin's face, "think your winning do you? You go ahead and think that this all matters and that I haven't already won."

Robin Frowned, "Well, lets see if you can enjoy your victory with a few holes in your chest, no?"

The challenge issued, the white haired devil of Ylisse and the Plegian witch leveled and charged one another. Using the superior reach of her silver lance, Aversa rewarded Robin's overeager charge with several rapid jabs.

While failing to connect with her blows, she was managing to keep Robin at bay and maintain the initiative, Robin knew that if he couldn't gain the initiative then he might as well save everyone some time and stab himself.

Knocking Aversa's lance back, Robin used the moment to disengage and create distance and prepare to launch a thoron bolt, believing if he couldn't win a battle of steel, he could win a duel of magic.

"Come now Robin, we both know I was always the better mage." Planting her lance in the sand, Aversa prepared her counter, a spell forming in each hand.

His shot ready, Robin launched his electrical spear at Aversa, the spell creating a deafening pop and blinding flash the moment it left his hand.

Anticipating this, Aversa first threw a flux spell into the path of the Thoron, the two colliding and the flux nullifying the thoron, following the flux, Aversa launched a wave of fire that arced over the flux and thoron, landing where Robin was standing. As her senses returned, Aversa looked at the smoldering wreckage in front of her.

"You are right, you always were a better mage," Aversa's blood ran cold and eyes went wide as she heard Robin's voice right behind her as an electrified sword was raised to her throat, "but I was always the better strategist, checkmate Aversa, you lose."

With the battle around them closing in the shepherd's favor, Chrom and several other men approached Robin, "good work, that's one of two dealt with."

"Right, now only Validar is left," Robin gestured towards two men, "you two, drag her back to the rear."

The two men nodded, and after apprehending the smirking Aversa they began to make their way back, "be careful little brother, you may not be happy with the results of what happens inside." The two men continued to drag her off as she laughed into the distance.

"This isn't right," Chrom quirked his brow at Robin, "Aversa is no fool, she let us push through the army and get to the spire easily, all she really tried to do was fight me, and it felt more like a spar than like she was attempting to gut me."

"You think its a trap."

"Yeah."

Chrom shook his head, "We don't have much of a choice though, we stay out here and Validar completes his ritual and brings back Grima, or we go in and have some chance of success."

"Either way," Robin nodding at chrom's statement, "this is it, the final push on the gates of hell."

"On the plus side, I wouldn't dream of doing it with anyone else."

Robin closed his eyes as he smiled at Chrom's words, "same here, no one else I would storm hell with."

* * *

Deep within the labyrinth of halls and rooms of the Dragon's Table, a tall, thin man wearing the robes of the Hierophant, leader of the Grimleal, stood before an empty throne in the complex's massive main chamber. His thoughts, undisturbed by the cacophony of steel, spell fire, and shouts from the battle outside, were finally halted when he took note of the rapidly approaching footsteps of the runner entering the room.

Out of breath and haggard, the runner quickly knelt before the now scowling man in front of him, "forgive me for the disturbance lord Validar, nut the Ylissens have broken through our army and are poised to storm the Table."

Validar simply scowled at him for a moment, then to the messenger's surprise simply began to laugh, "let them come, the Ylissens have already lost, they simply don't comprehend that fact yet, let them struggle vainly against fate all they wish."

The messenger simply stared wide eyed at Validar, unsure of his mental stability as the man could not fathom how the Ylissens were losing in this situation. "Go rally the remaining guardsmen and have them rally here." Snapping back to reality, the scout stuttered for a few moments before nodding and quickly beating a retreat to find the remaining soldiers in the Table.

Waiting until the man left, Validar slowly turned back to the empty throne before him, "so close, Plegia will finally have its revenge and Ylisse will know justice, and our pain." Spinning on his heal, Validar quickly began to stride into the antechamber, joining with the guards gathering there so as to await the Ylissens.

* * *

Cautiously, the Ylissens advanced through the winding, dreary corridors of the ancient tower, fearing ambush or resistance at every turn, the men moved slowly towards the heart of the complex, on edge from the latent magic coursing through the air, no doubt the result of whatever dark magic infested this labyrinth.

"Robin, are you sure this is the right way," Chrom moving with his sword in a low guard, quickly scanned the hallway as he lead his men, "after all, its been how many years since you were here last?"

"Twenty, to be exact," Robin replied matter of factly, "and yes, I am positive this is the right way, even if my memory of this place is off, all the magic of the Table is flowing this direction."

"I concur," looking back, Chrom raised an eyebrow at one of the shepherds mages, a woman with long, deep red hair in the vestments of a Ylissen War mage, "should our goal be to disrupt whatever manner of ritual being attempted, then following the flow of magic is bound to lead us to the ritual, or at least a critical piece of it."

Coming to a halt, the party stared at a set of colossal doors separating them from what was likely to be their goal, moving up, Robin examined the door carefully while a lithe red head slid up to the door. Pulling the sucker he was enjoying from his mouth, he gingerly placed an ear against the door as Robin placed his own hand on it.

Closing his eyes to focus, Robin did his best to trace the flow of magic around him, "This is it Chrom, all the magic is pooling somewhere beyond this door."

"Whether Bubbles is right or wrong about magic I can't say, but I can tell you there so happens to be a lot of guys beyond the door," pulling away from the door, the redhead popped his lollipop back into his mouth, "they are trying real hard to be inconspicuous, but you can hear a lot of latent shuffling and armor clanking."

Robin pulled back besides Chrom, gaze never leaving the door, "Ready Chrom?"

"As ever," turning back to the men waiting behind them in the hallway, Chrom signaled to several men, "you lot, you heard the Grand Master, get ready to breach into the room."

Springing into action at the words of their Exalt, a small group of knights formed up at the entrance of the door with their shields arranged in a wall of solid wood. The shield wall ready, two knights at the side grasped the immense handles to the door, and with a nod to one another slowly pulled them open.

With the door open, the knights slowly marched in unison into the room, with the men behind them spreading out at the edges to extend their line. Halting a few meters in, Chrom and the rest of the shepherds came in behind and immediately took note of the emptiness of the vast room, empty save for a lone man standing near the opposite end.

Slowly, the lone man walked forward as he extended his arms in mock greeting, "Exalt Chrom, how good of you to visit us in Plegia, and I see you brought some friends, I think I even recognize my dear son behind you there," anger and rage starting to drip from Validar's words, "after all, they do have such a lovely reputation for setting people from our country alight for the slightest reason, but it seems you have inspired some tolerance from them."

The thief from earlier quickly slid up by Chrom, "be wary, unless this guy can mimic a hundred men while idling, there are definitely some hidden surprises in here."

"Thanks Gaius,"Chrom stepped beyond his men to address Validar, "Validar! Don't try to hide what you are up to, we know you are trying to resurrect Grima and drown the world in blood, we refuse to let you succeed, for the good of everyone, Ylissen or Plegian."

"Hahahaha," reigning in his unexpected burst of laughter, Validar grinned back at the Exalt, "Stop me? How do you plan to stop a prophecy already fulfilled? The irony of which you have sauntered about with for over a decade. You can try all you wish, but you will only die tired for your effort."

"It seems you are as delusional as you are genocidal Validar, you haven't succeeded, not yet at least." Turning back to Robin, Chrom was somewhat surprised to find the normally calm tactician had paled somewhat and an extremely worried look on his face, "Robin, focus, don't let his words get to you, he has yet to succeed and never will once we bury him."

Jostled from his disturbing memories by Chrom, Robin silently nodded. Doing his best to push his past and his worries aside, Robin prepared for the coming fight.

Seeing Robin calm down at his words, Chrom nodded back at hi, "Good, remember, this is it, our final battle, together Validar doesn't have a chance; now lets go Robin!"

At this, the two men began to quickly advance on Validar, only stopped by the march of boots on stone as the aforementioned hidden surprises began to pour out of the adjoining rooms to join the battle.

Already directing the men around him, Stahl turned to Chrom and Robin, "go you two, you deal with Validar, we will deal with the company."

The two men, nodding at Stahl, resumed their charge as the sounds of battle erupted throughout the room. Stopping a good dozen meters before Validar, the two were caught off guard when Validar quickly erected a shimmering barrier of purple behind them.

Looking back, the two could still make out the room behind them, but couldn't see much else, for all intents and purposes, the room beyond the barrier seemed empty and silent.

"As your friend said, this battle is between us and no one else." Validar growled as he began to gather dim swirls of magic around both of his hands.

Taking his action as their cue to begin, Robin and Chrom both sprinted to try and close the gap before Validar could finish his casting.

Underestimating the man's speed however, they were both forced back as Validar leveled his hand and shot out a torrent of purple flames that hungrily consumed the floor between them.

"We have to close the distance Robin," Chrom was busy batting the flames licking at him with Falchion until they finally died down, "Ill occupy him, then you can close the distance and I'll follow up."

Robin nodded, seeing this Chrom began a dead sprint at Validar, who responded by unleashing his second spell at the exalt, a purple orb the size of a melon that was sent speeding at him.

Unable to dodge, Chrom used Falchion as a makeshift shield, deflecting the orb away from him, the recoil from doing so staggering him.

The plan worked though, as soon as the spell had left Validar's fingers, Robin had bolted around Chrom and closed the distance before Validar could ready another set of stronger spells.

Validar, seeing the fight had shifted to a close range fight, began launching weaker, but practically instantly cast-able spells to try and disorient and force Robin back, "I admire your effort, but you both will soon realize how futile this all is."

Robin snarled as he used his levin sword to cut through a shower of sparks Validar threw between them, "we can see how futile this is when I stand over your corpse!"

Validar, sensing an opening in Robin's attack, quickly shot a small burst of magefire towards the tactician, stalling him for moment; however, at the same time Chrom charged forward as Robin was forced back.

Cycling his sword in a mix of horizontal and diagonal slashes in an attempt to catch Validar with the edge, Chrom blitzed with no sign of slowing down.

Validar, seeing he was about to be caught on Falchions edge, lept back, and as Chrom lept forward to catch him as he landed, was caught by surprise as Validar disappeared and his blade harmlessly glided through the space he once occupied.

"Chrom! Look out above!" his head bolting upright, Chrom saw Validar hovering above him as he prepared to launch a rather nasty looking bolt down on him.

Robin, seeing Chrom about to get skewered by Validar, quickly launched a fireball at him to try and disrupt him.

Validar simply smirked as he disappeared and the fireball detonating on the ceiling behind him.

Blinded by the smoke and falling rubble, Chrom felt the wind taken out of him as the side of his armor was slammed by a dark bolt; while failing to penetrate, did knock all the wind out of him and sent him sprawling.

Seeing the Bolt hit Chrom, Robin traced the trajectory to the smiling Validar as he prepped another shot to finish the downed Exalt.

Determined to not have to explain to the queen why he let Chrom get splattered all over the Table's floor, Robin launched a perfectly timed bolt at the orb Validar launched. The two collided halfway between Validar and Chrom, buffeting everyone with the shock wave resulting from the explosion.

Using the moment to regroup, Chrom sidled up next to Robin, "Chrom, this isn't working, we can't take him one on one, we both need to hit him at the same time."

"Agreed, any ideas?"

The smoke slowly clearing, Robin's mind raced at breakneck speeds trying to put together a plan to catch Validar, finally however, a smirk appeared on Robin's face, "maybe, he won't let us both get close to him, he isn't stupid, but I think I can throw him off and give you an opening, charge him and don't stop for anything."

Nodding as the smoke finally cleared, Chrom took note of Validar beyond the cleared smoke as he was preparing another pair spells on each hand.

Locking eyes with Validar, Chrom leveled his sword and sprinted towards the sorcerer before him, Validar returning his gaze, began to swirl one of his hands as electricity sparked in the air around him.

Knowing he would have to disrupt Validar so Chrom could close in, Robin launched the lightning bolt he had readied straight at Validar's chest.

The sorcerer lazily took note of the incoming bolt and fired off the bolt he had readied in his off hand, nullifying it midway, "really boy, is that the best the White Devil can come up with?" Validar snickered as his gaze turned back to trying to electrocute the Exalt.

Despite Robin's failed spell, Chrom kept to the plan and continued to charge Validar as the air around him began to cackle with increasingly dangerous electricity.

Validar simply shook his head at the Exalt's foolhardy charge, "idiot," however, a moment before Validar was ready to release the spell and fry the Ylissen fool he felt a massive burning sensation in his abdomen followed by an electrical surge through his body paralyzing him.

Looking down as his body convulsed, he saw a deep gash in his side, Looking behind him, he saw a bloodied levin sword behind him, then looking forward, he saw Robin's sword arm outstretched from throwing the improvised missile with a shit eating grin plastered on his face, "clever boy," finally looking in front of him, he saw Chrom slam his chest with Falchion, throwing him back and on the ground.

Quickly joining Chrom, Robin stopped to catch his breath before, "always the unexpected with you, isn't it?"

"I have a reputation to keep don't you know?"

Chuckling for a moment, the two began to slowly advance on Validar's prone form to ensure the job was finished, as they did, the barrier behind them flickered, each time it did so the sound of the battle outside spilling through, distracting the two men.

Seizing on their momentary distraction, Validar marshaled his remaining strength to rapidly leap to his feat, "this isn't over until you damn Ylissens all pay!"

Their heads wrenching back on Validar, Robin watched as time slowed down and a blade of pure magic rocketed from Validar's hand towards the two, lacking time to deflect the shot, Robin pushed Chrom out of the way as the blade collided with his chest, resulting in a deep gash and throwing him back a few meters.

Stumbling from Robin's rough shove, Chrom could only stare in horror as he watched Robin get sliced by Validar's attack, seeing his friend wounded on the ground, Chrom charged Validar and planted his blade in his heart before he could ready another strike.

Pushing the finally dead Validar off his blade, Chrom spun and rushed to Robin's side.

The moment Chrom planted his blade in Validar's heart, Robin felt something in his mind snap, where once his mind was calm and orderly, chaos sprung forth as his mind was quickly overwhelmed by a landslide of information and memories, all blurred and unintelligible, but no less disorienting.

As he watched Chrom approach him with worry on his face, Robin's vision clouded over with a red haze and the image slowly morphed. Where Chrom was before, something about him changed, and the man that walked towards Robin, while eerily similar to Chrom, seemed older and different somehow, but the most pronounced difference however was his face, while it was Chrom's, the worry and concern had morphed into a sneering face of scorn and derision.

Seeing the face, some of the unintelligible memories in Robin stirred, while still unclear, the emotions with them spilled out, a putrid mix of anger, hate, and malice towards the somehow familiar and hated visage approaching him.

Stopping before his wounded form, Robin noticed the blood dripping from the blade at his side, a blade that while appeared to be Falchion, looked wrong, but still familiar. Staring at it, more emotions began to spill out, this time anxiety, fear, and pure terror at the bloody blade.

Both of them looking at the gash on Robin's chest for a moment, Robin, dazed by his swirling mind, connected the dots as best he could and realized that the blade and man had wounded him so, and started when the man grasped his shoulder and hauled him up in front of him.

The man's face, looking over Robin up close, furrowed in worry and distaste at what he saw. Wrenched up close to the familiar, but somehow forgotten face before him, all the emotions swirling in Robin's head subsided as they were replaced by a single thought. Revenge. With that thought, everything within Robin snapped, and almost automatically he slammed a bolt he didn't even know he had readied straight into the man's chest.

His face, contorting from one of derision to one of pain, slowly faded as the memory before Robin reverted and Chrom stood there with a pained and stunned look as he stumbled back and collapsed.

Robin stared at the situation before he stared at the bolt of lightning embedded in Chrom's chest, and then the tingle of electricity and blood his hand was drenched in.

* * *

 **AN- So ends the first chapter set for the story, a bit of set up for some important characters that will play a role, and the all important scene of how Grima!Robin is lead to stab Chrom if he is actually Grima with no real split between the two other than memory.**

 **Have fun reading and drop your thoughts and let me know what you think of my writing, have a fun holiday weekend, see you next week.**


	3. Grim Dawn

The azure haired prince staggered backwards, clutching at the gaping hole in his chest that an electrical bolt had bored into him. With his strength fleeting, he collapsed onto one knee as he struggled to push air through his lungs. As the corners of his vision beginning to fade, the prince realized that he was nearing the end; with that realization, he looked up at his comrade standing across from him, forced a grim smile on his face "I understand Robin... it seems fate had different ideas for us in mind. We fought to alter our paths... and failed. My friend, I'm sorry I couldn't change our path."

Barely finishing his words, Chrom proceeded to cough blood and spasm as his body went into shock from the trauma. The entire time this went on the tactician in front of him had been stock still. His only movement being his eyes staring at his bloodied hands, and then his friend before him, and back again. Once the Exalt had begun to fall forward from his wounds however, Robin was finally shocked from his rigor and rushed forward, catching him with but a moment to spare.

Staring at Chrom, Robin's mind froze in place, his next action unclear, but was suddenly jolted awake as he felt the Exalt grasp him weekly and pull him down. Looking Chrom in the eyes. Robin realized his friend was trying to tell him one last thing, before the end. "Robin, look after them both, please..." his words, while soft and hard to hear, carried implicit meaning. Taking the words in, the tactician nodded absently.

The tactician laid his friend gently down onto the cold stone floor beneath them; as he did so the Exalt began coughing up more blood, shooting some of it onto the tactician's face. The prince opened his eyes and looked up at his friend for what would likely be the last time, "Sorry about the blood, ha, it seems we finally ran out of luck," coughing as he tried to speak with the tactician. The prince noticed the blood on his friend's face was the exact color as his eyes, _I wonder if it is even him, no, it is. This is the same doubt that got us into this situation. Could this have been avoided if we had acted differently? What if I had listened to him? A question for another time I suppose._

Looking down at his friend, the tactician again found himself unable to do anything. Even though the tactician had been in countless battles that had very nearly cost him his life, he was uncharacteristically stunned into near paralysis. Listening to the Exalt's ragged attempts to continue breathing, he felt as though the room was spinning around him; beginning to feel ill from the speed of the motion, the tactician grabbed his head in a feeble attempt to halt the spinning. What was far more effective than his hands however, was the cessation of Chrom's breathing; not only did the room come to a screeching halt, but time itself seemed to have frozen in order to take note of what had happened. The tactician began to violently shudder as the realization sunk in, the Exalt was dead, and he had killed him.

Sinking backwards, the tactician tried in vain to process what had just happened, _I... I... had no choice, he tried to kill me; what else could I do?_ With his mind recalling the menacing face he saw but moments before, and the blood drenched Falchion, he set on this repeating train of thought, time passed him quickly until finally he looked at the body, looked around himself, and shattered the silence with a wail of agony.

After what felt like hours, the tactician slowly crawled towards his friend's body. Despite not being but ten feet from his former friend, it seemed as if he was crossing an expanse miles long with weights shackled to his feet. Collapsing down to his knees next to the body, he stared in silence at his friend.

 _I can't leave him, especially not here of all places, t_ hought the tactician bitterly to himself.

Being as gentle as possible, the tactician began to close his friend's cloak and pull his arms over his chest. As he pulled his right arm into place, the tactician jolted when he heard a loud clang of metal on stone; his head spinning in pursuit of the source, he realized that the lord had never let his grip loosen on Falchion. Falchion... the blade of the Exalted Line, and it had fallen from his hand and sat on the stone next to its previous owner.

The Tactician paused, _look after them both, please, t_ hought the tactician as he recalled his dead friend's daughter back in the castle. Thinking further on her, he recalled that it would soon be her 12th birthday in a few weeks, "Happy birthday princess, I bet you will always remember this one, and for all the wrong reasons." Smiling bitterly as he attempted to avoid lapsing into self-loathing once more, the tactician bent low to pick up Falchion; any thoughts or regrets he had at the moment were quickly silenced as his eyes went wide at the sensation of his hand feeling as if it was on fire. Shrieking from the searing pain in his hand, the tactician immediately released his grip of the blade while clutching his twitching palm within the bowels of his coat.

 _I suppose I shouldn't be surprised at that happening, I wonder if this is a recent development though?_ The tactician kept his glare fixed to the blade as he recalled the fact that he had never actually handled the blade before. Wrapping his hand in several layers of his coat, he was able to grasp the blade despite the heat he could feel quickly building back up on it; before the sensation overwhelmed him though, the tactician was able to maneuver it into its scabbard before its displeasure became too noticeable.

With his friend's body ready, the tactician slowly lifted him from the ground and began to make his way out of the grand altar, noting that while the aftermath of the body was littered all over the room, it had either ended and the survivor's retreated. Slowly walking towards the chamber's exit, the tactician dragged himself and his friend forward as if the weight of the world were upon his shoulder's. Making his way out of the room, the tactician cleared the archway separating the altar room from the hallway outside only to freeze immediately after rounding the corner; for sitting directly in front of the tactician was the hallway's main reflection mirror.

Looking into the mirror, the tactician took stock of what he believed had undoubtedly driven his friend to attack him; his normally pale complexion had reached the point where he was practically a white sheet, which was in pointed contrast to the small patches of what seemed to be obsidian scales on his skin in random splotches. His normally snow white hair, had taken on a deep purple hue further adding to the contrast with his pale skin. Next he noticed that the mark of Grima, normally a dull purple, had begun to glow with a sort of internal light; also, it seemed that purple lines crawled upwards from his hands into his arms. Removing his coat and pulling his shirt up, the tactician saw(to his horror) that the lines converged into a much larger sigil of Grima on his chest. Looking back up, he finally noticed what had to be the most prominent feature of his change, his eyes. Where before the tactician had dark brown eyes, now he couldn't tell if they remained so since his irises glowed a bright blood red.

Taking into account everything he saw, he looked back at the the reflection, not with the initial shock and horror he felt, but now with a hate and loathing that had been slowly building inside of him. He saw in that image everything he didn't want to be, everything that had embittered him over the years, everything that had brought him agony, and everything he hated. Staring himself in the eyes, he felt the anger and loathing towards himself build and build; finally when he thought he saw the image leer at him, he snapped and could no longer tolerate the monstrosity that was before him and threw a simple fireball at the image as it continued to mock him. As the smoke cleared and the ringing in his ears ceased, the tactician saw that the fireball that should of shattered the glass and scorched the wall, had instead left a gaping ten foot hole, collapsed the adjoining room, and threw him and the prince's body back a good twenty feet. Once the ringing finally ceased, he could of sworn that he could hear himself laughing all around him.

Pushing himself up to a sitting position, the tactician looked around himself at all the carnage he wrought with what should have been a simple spell. Covering his ears with his hands, the tactician thought of his past with his friends. Looking again at the remnants of the wall in front of him, the tactician pondered how after all they had done it had come to this; that Validar had succeeded in his plans, and yet aside from the Exalts's death and his own visual changes nothing theoretically had changed. Finally, surrounded by his own cackling, the tactician gave life to the truth he had first suspected long ago in Valm, that Grima, the ancient dragon he and the prince had sought to stop, had been him all along. Looking at a shard of glass to his side, he again saw his eyes, and finally accepted that no matter what he did, nothing would change that Robin was always the lie, and that he was and always will be Grima.

* * *

 **AN- I originally really liked this chapter, I still really liked this chapter; as such, I went through and tightened it up a little and also corrected some consistency issues. This also is the absolute end of the prologue and after I finish up the next arc Ill merge these chapters into one. Either way, I hope you like this chapter as much as I do. Please have fun reading and drop me a pm or a review with your thoughts and criticisms.**


	4. Who am I?

It was a thick, black night at the palace in Ylissetol. Although the chaos of a few weeks prior from when the Exalt and his chief general had rallied as much of the Halidom's army had died down, not many could sleep easily with so many loved ones off in uncertainty. One such person was a certain blue-haired eleven year old wandering the darkened halls of the palace of Ylissetol; while on prior nights she was able to eventually pass off into slumber, this night she could not do so despite her best efforts.

Ever since midday, she had felt a strange unease; shortly after lunch she had felt her stomach clench, her heart quicken, and an incredible urge to simply collapse to her knees and bawl her eyes out, and she could not understand why she felt so. So with this strange feeling over her throughout the day and into the night, she could not fall asleep; so she roamed the castle halls aimlessly, hoping that her father and Robin would hopefully return soon as they had both promised. In an attempt to chase off the heavy feeling in her heart, she thought back to the promises that both had made to her on the eve of their departure.

 _We will be back before you know it._

Opening her eyes again, Lucina finished recalling the promise the two had made, and despite the feeling of dread that had gripped her all day, she felt at ease. As she started to turn back to her room, she froze as she heard a large crash come from the offices down the corridor, Robin's offices after she realized where she was. Determined to see what the noise was, she approached the door to the supposedly unoccupied office.

Rubbing his behind, Grima grimaced as he realized that the theoretical understanding of teleportation he had acquired from his encounters with it in Plegia and Valm was a far cry from actual experience in carrying it out. _I suppose I should be glad that I am competent enough to not teleport myself into a wall, not sure I want to discover the results of that particular mishap._

Dusting himself off as he stood up, Grima took note of the remains of his favorite desk he was now standing upon. Bending low to grab Falchion by its scabbard, Grima was glad that it seemed that the coast was clear and no one had heard his rather grand return to the castle.

Little did he know, that across the castle in a locked room, a dark mage with eyes and throat sore from sobbing shot up from her bed as she felt the tingle of magic and a the familiar sensation of a mage she knew. In but an instant, the dark mage's door flew open into the knight commander trying to coax it open, and was racing through hallways with a thoroughly confused and now bleeding knight commander trying to keep up with her frenzied pace.

Hearing the door creak, Grima Froze in place; slowly turning his head to the door hoping that the door was simply blown open by one of the castle's notorious drafts. Instead he found himself staring right into Lucina's blue eyes, and her staring back into his own red eyes, "Robin… is that you?" Hearing the word, Grima shook himself from his paralysis and tried to back away, only to realize she was standing in the only doorway out of the room.

"Robin," she said again as she started to approach the cloaked man before her, "is that really you".

"No, please stay back, I don't want to hurt anyone else.", Grima shouted as he tried in vain to push himself through the wall his back was currently against.

Looking at him with a confused stare, Lucina couldn't understand why he was acting so strangely; she also didn't understand why his eyes were glowing a low red. Finally, she asked the question that Grima dreaded, "Did father come back with you, is he here?" At this, Grima, buried under guilt of what happened at the Table, and Lucina's inquisitive stare, simply fell back against the wall and lamented his failure as tears again marred his face. Only when he felt something around his neck did he reopen his eyes, "please, don't cry Robin, why are you so sad?"

At this, Grima simply handed her the bundled Falchion; she slowly unwrapped the blade, and upon seeing the the hilt protrude from the bundle after unwrapping it, she froze as the implication became clear. Grima was giving her the Falchion, the blade that her father told her she would inherit when he was unable to wield it, a blade she knew was only passed down on the death of the previous wielder, "I wish it were different," looking back up at the cloaked man with her own reddening eyes, she tried to hold back tears as he spoke, "I failed him, I failed you, I failed everyone."

"But it isn't your fault, I'm sure you tried your best to save him," whispered Lucina as she finally began to shake from the revelation and cling to the now crying man harder.

Hearing this Grima pushed Lucina back, removed his hood, and made her look him in the eyes, Lucina started at what she saw, "Look at me Lucina, look at my eyes, my skin, my hair, these scales littering my body, and these damn markings markings all over me, I am a monster; how can this not be my fault?"

"You're not a monster, you're my uncle!" Lucina yelled back at him, her voiced mixed with sobs.

"No, I'm not," Grima said as he built his resolve for what he had to do to protect Lucina, especially from himself, "I'm Grima, your father didn't die because I failed him, he died because I killed him with my own hands. Robin died alongside Chrom at the Dragon's table." As he finished, Lucina simply stared into his piercing red eyes, unwilling to comprehend what he had leveled on her. Trying, but failing to form a response to him.

Moments later, a dark mage with several knights on her tail burst through the door to the office. The occupants startled by the abrupt entry into the room, the intruders startled by the hooded man with red eyes boring into their very souls before them. Before anyone had a chance to say or do anything, Grima had jumped back away from Lucina while emitting a bright electrical flash from his hands, blinding everyone in the room.

As Frederick's sight returned, all he saw was a puff of smoke where the hooded man once stood and the young princess holding Falchion while staring into it. Slowly Lucina turned her head towards the group at the door, and after a few moments of silence between the two, she began to bawl with the realization that she traded her father and uncle for a piece of metal.

* * *

In the fields west of Ylissetol, a man shifted through the trees under the cover of darkness; looking back towards the capitol, he breathed a sigh of relief as he felt that he had finally put sufficient distance between himself and the palace. He wondered why he was so nervous; after all, he teleported from the palace and it was highly unlikely anyone would search beyond the walls of the capitol so soon after he left. Stopping for a moment, he wondered if they were even looking at all for him here or in Plegia.

"I think you already know the answer to that question, don't you Lord Grima?" With widened eyes Grima spun around towards the voice he had hoped he would never hear again and instinctively tossed a fireball towards it; only to be disappointed as the figure he hated for so much of his life simply sidestepped the ball that continued on its path and fizzled in the distance, "Validar! I see it was too much to hope that at least you had died as well at the table, I thought at least I was free of your torment."

"Not quite, my dear boy, my work is almost complete, almost. Until I finish, I fear you will have to suffer my help somewhat longer." Validar said with his usual air of superiority he always seemed to exude.

Grima couldn't help but snarl back at him, "Your help!? Your help has done nothing but bring me misery and the deaths of my friends! Please, I can suffer little more of your help."

Validar could not help but smirk at this, "Oh, really? Please tell me how I killed your friend?" This only caused Grima's face to redden to the same hue as his eyes. "Please son, I do not recall how I struck him down; so if you could enlighten your forgetful father I would be mo-"

"Shut up!" Grima finally snapped at Validar, "You tricked us, forced us, you did this to me!"

Validar now began to laugh outright at this, "Ah responsibility, an interesting concept, one that humans often avoid and always put upon others. But enough of this, you made your choice and killed him, I will agree that neither of you may have desired that specific outcome and with clear heads you may have chose differently, but you have yourself to blame for the results."

Grima was only further angered by this, "I am too blame, look at me, you cursed me to look like a monster!"

At this Validar's laughter ceased, his eyes narrowed, and his normally level tone took a sharp edge, "No, I did nothing of the sort, the only hex I ever put on you was at birth, and your attack on me at the table disrupted it, the results of which we can plainly see now."

"What are you talking about?" Despite the question, Grima could probably guess that his former look was the illusion, and this was real.

"You already know your past self's image was a sham; I had cast an illusionary hex upon you when you were born to hide your true nature until you were able to control your power yourself, good thing I did considering your mother's treachery." Validar smiled as he seemed to further recall something else, "Though if she had ever bothered to learn any manner of dark magery, she would of realized how pointless attempting to hide you was."

"Why is that? We were hidden and outside of your reach; how would you even of begun to search," Said Grima incredulously, "the Grimleal may be large, but you can't exactly search an entire continent for two people, especially when two thirds of it are openly hostile to you."

As Grima finished his statement, Validar could only snicker at the thought of being unable to find Grima, "Tell me, have you not noticed how every time you meet a dark mage they cannot help but notice you, that they seem to be inexplicably drawn to you?" Grima's brow furrowed as he recalled Tharja and Henry's particular attraction to him,

"Any dark mage with an inkling of talent would see you like a ship that sees a lighthouse on the horizon. Your mother could no more hide you from my sight then she could hide the sun from a peasant." Validar said as he chuckled at the irony, "You were never really out of our sight or reach, I merely decided that letting you reside with her in Ylisse, in anonymity, would ironically be safer than residing in Plegia, where those who knew of your true nature would seek to use you to their own ends."

Turning back to face Grima Validar returned to his original business, "but that is in the past now, and I think you would rather I finish my business and leave you, correct?"

Grima shot a look of disgust back at Validar, "to be honest I would rather you just skip the business and leave."

Validar simply ignored Grima's quip and continued to speak, "so, are you finished with burdening yourself with those who would either scorn you or pretend you are dead now."

"They are not a burden, and they have not forgotten me." Grima said with as much conviction as he could muster.

"Hmmm, I suspected you would think as much, very well," Validar paused with thought for a moment, "then simply pay attention." As he finished his statement Validar had begun weaving his hands in an intricate spell; finishing the spell a dark cloud began to pool at their feet before them, "watch, and see how much your supposed Ylissen friends and comrades care for you."

* * *

Frederick sat upon a stool next to the bed of what was now his new liege, as he sat his mind raced on how things had gone so wrong, how the army had been destroyed at the table, how Chrom had been killed, and how he had failed him when he was needed the most. Honestly the only thing that kept him together at this point was the simple fact that the princess's mother was in shambles and that no one else that was capable of maintaining some semblance of order within the palace and seat of government was available. As he wallowed in his thoughts, he looked at the princess that he had found earlier in Robin's offce; after she had bawled for what seemed like ages, she eventually just passed out from the stress of learning what happened.

Thinking back to the office incident, Frederick knew that while Chrom's body was recovered from the table by retreating forces, Robin was never recovered or seen after entering the spire. Now that Falchion had returned, returned by someone in Robin's own coat as well and the specific magical tunings of it were deemed to be his as well, Frederick was convinced that Robin had survived and returned the Falchion, but this lead to the worry about what happened to him. He looked... different, to say the least, even in the dark you could see the dim glow in his eyes and the splotches on his skin.

Frederick was then suddenly stirred from his thoughts by the princess beginning to stir before him; standing up, he peered at her and waited with baited breath to see if she would awaken, "Princess, can you hear me?"

Slowly Lucina opened her eyes and noticed the knight standing over her, as she processed what he said she slowly nodded her head in an affirmative.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Frederick next turned to the part which he dreaded to bring up, "Princess, do you remember what happened before you passed out?"

The princess returned a negative nod as she began to speak, "No…"

Thinking over what to do in his head, Frederick and Lucina simply stared at each other for a few minutes before Frederick finally made his mind up, "milady, I am sorry to inform you that… your father… fell at the Dragon's Table."

Upon hearing this Lucina continued to stare at Frederick, "He promised though…", whispering so silently that even Frederick had to strain to hear her. Thinking back upon the promise her father made, she also recalled the one Robin made as well. With her voice beginning to quake, she asked Frederick a question she dreaded the answer to, "and Robin?"

Hearing Robin's name Frederick's breath stilled, he had not thought of how to deal with this question. He would of rather simply not had to deal with it, but he knew it would come up eventually. Finally reaching a decision on what to do, Frederick only hoped it was the right thing to do in the end, "I am sorry, but Robin fell to Grima as well as your father, he is dead."

* * *

Grima continued to stare at the cloud as it began to dim and disperse; long after it had disappeared, he still stared at the ground it had been above.

Seeking to break the silence Validar spoke first, "If they knew what happened to Chrom, I could see why they may want to consider you dead to them, but they don't, they simply cast you out since they ultimately don't consider you truly one of them, they consider you an expendable heathen from Plegia. Ylisse and its citizens have always been as such, they claim moral superiority while ostracizing those they consider as unacceptable to their religious dogma, and you unfortunately are the pinnacle of what they despise."

After what he had seen Grima could barely keep a steady voice, "all those years we fought together, all the sacrifice, and it means nothing to them? They all see me and think I that am a monster." As he spoke Grima's voice slowly started to pick up as his confusion gave way to anger at his betrayal, "After everything I sacrificed for them this is how they repay me, they take one look at me and abandon me when I need them most; they simply would rather think that I died and am nothing left but a disease to be fought and killed!"

As Grima's anger mounted, he eventually turned back to Validar, "And what was your role in all of this, why did you drag me into this world."

Validar for the first time simply stood there as his face took on the look of recalling his past, "You sought me out, I suppose; the Great Crusade Ylisse carried out against Plegia… took everything I cared about." Validar's face took on a frown as he recalled the Exalt's crusade so long ago.

"You don't remember now, but you came to me when I was but a young acolyte and made me an offer; you offered to bring Ylisse and its people to justice in return for my dedication to returning you to the mortal plane." Validar, noticing Grima's confused look, quickly headed off his next question, "And no, you did not tell me of your memory or past, only of your offer; I can only guess that you wished to continue your feud with Naga." At the mention of Naga, Grima felt a cold heat build within him, in the past he had noticed it as well, but only now did he understand why he felt that way.

With the cold anger inside him dying down, Grima's thoughts returned to the present and he did his best to recall what he knew of the Great Crusade; it had been waged by Chrom's father, the Exalt before Emmeryn, roughly twenty years prior and had destroyed much of the two countries, "But the Exalt that carried it out died in the war, you already have your justice against him, the people simply want peace."

Hearing this Validar immediately lost his composure, "LIES! Don't tell me that Cornelius was the only one to blame for the atrocities of the Crusade, he gave the order, and the people of Ylisse drenched the sands of Plegia with the blood of its people as he desired!" Finishing this Validar quickly restrained himself and recomposed himself, "My apologies Lord Grima, you only have your memories of the past twenty years, without the rest of your memory you won't understand that while Cornelius did indeed instigate it, his people were just as eager as he in its prosecution."

Thinking back on the people of Ylisse, Grima couldn't fathom them willingly perpetrating such acts, "Cornelius is gone now, the Crusade ended twenty years ago."

At this Validar couldn't help but sigh, "The Crusade only ended because Emmeryn and Chrom willed it, and don't forget the people's rancor at Emmeryn over it. Even now, with both you and Chrom no longer restraining the people and nobility of Ylisse they are beginning to restart their crusade and satiate the lust they have bred from their intolerance and hate."

Remembering Lucina back at the palace, Grima recalled how much she reminded him of Chrom, "Lucin-"

"Is an eleven year old girl." Validar quickly interjected, "her unique situation may result in her eventually emulating Chrom and Emmeryn," Validar tapped his head as a thought came to him, "though killing her father may change that, but either way she is in no position to restrain Ylisse."

Grima still couldn't believe that the people themselves would wantonly thirst for blood as Validar described, "Doubtful, people can change."

"Maybe," Validar said while ruefully shaking his head, "but I already know that they have not. My power is nearly spent and I am about to fade, but with what I have left I can send you to the border so that you can witness what I already know. Then, once you see the bile that lies beneath the gilding of Ylisse, you will understand again, and I hope you will make them pay for their sins. Past that, you can find the answers you seek of yourself at the Table," Validar chuckled as he remebered Aversa, "Your sister can also greatly enlighten you as well."

Grima quirked his brow, "Aversa?"

"Don't worry, you will remember, goodbye Lord Grima."

With the last of his power Validar quickly teleported Grima to the border of Ylisse and Plegia before he could say anything; with that done, Validar began to feel faint and lose the feeling he had in his extremities. As he walked west towards home, Validar could slowly feel his spell fail and his body turning to dust; despite this he walked with a smile on his face, as he knew that after so long: Ylisse would finally pay for all of its crimes, that's its people would know the hopelessness that Plegia felt, that they would feel loss as he had, and that they would finally understand what it feels to stand in the midst of a burnt and ruined town with the charred corpses of your wife and son at your feet.

* * *

 **AN-Almost done with the rewriting and editing, that being said, past this point it will start to diverge a bit more. One of the big issues from before is that I didn't have enough characters to really do much( on account of most plegians being dead or the shepherds being obviously unavailable). That being said, I figured out how to get more than enough for my needs and keep them linked to the original story in a sensible way, as to what this is I will be dropping hints as to what it is.**

 **Have fun reading and do let me know your thoughts, I enjoy responding to reviews almost as much as I do writing this stuff.**


	5. Tornado with No Direction pt 1

In the ruins of a once peaceful town on the Plegian-Ylissen border, several soldiers clad in black Plegian platemail were slowly going about the grim task of sifting through the burnt ashes of the town in a vain attempt to find survivors and collect the dead for burial. As the men continued with their grim charge, one of the soldiers approached what was their leader standing near the center of the town, "Captain Valens, Germaine and Tigert are back."

The Soldier with purple trimming on his armor, which denoted his rank, was sitting as he wiped sweat from his brow and tried to get the soot and ash from his red hair out. Finally giving up on the task, he set his halberd down and turned to examine the town while speaking with the man, "I take it by your tone our fears are realized Carmine?"

The female knight nodded grimly, "Unfortunately yes, the Ylissen Knights are currently making for the border back into Ylisse as we speak; they are moving slowly though as they seem to be carrying a fair deal of loot and salvage from the town," The sergeant spitting out the last part with particular disgust.

Closing his eyes and sighing, the captain dreaded the implications of Carmine's report, "So,there is our answer then, they are literally carrying the evidence of their deeds with them. So this is it then, our fears have returned; the Ylissen Crusaders have finally come to finish what they started."

"It is too late for them to begin any serious campaigning before the summer heatwaves hit the desert," Carmine kicked some of the soot and ash at her feet, "but summer won't last forever, and it seems they will come eventually."

As the captain and sergeant stood there trying to determine how to deal with the situation before them, their attention was suddenly grabbed by a portal unexpectedly opening in the town center and spitting out what looked to be a mage. With tensions amongst the soldiers already high, the portal suddenly opening near them promptly resulted in them all ceasing their current activities, drawing their weapons, and quickly forming a circle around the hooded mage as he slowly pulled himself up.

As the soldiers prepared to lunge with their halberds while the mage started casting, the captain rushed forward to intervene before his day worsened anymore, "Hold! Lower your weapons, don't strike!" The captain then turned to address the mage while gesturing he meant no harm, "You there, are you a member of the mage corps? That was a Plegian teleportation spell if I am not mistaken."

Seeing that the men had heeded their captain and while not sheathing their weapons, they had lowered them, Grima ceased his own casting, "No, I'm not a member of the mage corps, but what happened here?"

The captains attention returned to the burnt bodies around him, "What do you think, the Crusade happened; Ylissen knights came through and burned the town and put its populace to the sword before carrying off everything of value."

"Why?" Grima asked, his voice laced with disbelief.

The captain gave him an incredulous look, "What do you mean why? Isn't it obvious, Plegians worship Grima, and that's all the excuse Ylisse needs to abandon their pretenses of moral superiority and act like animals."

"And I suppose Grima told you that Ylisse did it as opposed to bandits?" Grima replied back.

The captain calmly responded despite his agitation at the mage's attitude, "No, he did not. My scouts however gave me an interesting report about a group of Ylissen knights making for the border from this direction." Grima held his breath at this point, the captain however was not yet finished, "Even more damning is the fact that they were also covered in blood and ash, as if they were part of a bloodbath and then attempted to burn away the evidence of their deeds." Noticing he had Grima's full attention now, the captain drove his last point home, " I suppose they could have been fighting our own soldiers and simply had burned the bodies after the conflict, but that leaves the incredibly awkward question of why they were loaded down with carts of loot and salvage that appear to be from a town and not a company of soldiers."

With the captain finished, he and Grima silently stared at each other while Grima reached the same conclusion that they had attained earlier. As Grima was about to break the silence, he heard the flapping of wings and noticed that coming down from the morning sky was an out of breath wyvern rider on an equally tired wyvern. The rider quickly scanned the group of men before him, and upon setting his eyes on the captain, quickly dismounted and ran to him while panting, "Captain, as you ordered I took your request to the duke as fast as my mounts wings could take me."

The captain noticing that the rider was alone, took on a sullen look as he dreaded the result of his request, "and Gallic, you returning alone means that his lordship has decided that dispatching the riders I requested was a waste of his time?"

"Uhhh… well his lordship said he was… preoccupied with more pressing... matters," was all the flustered rider could manage to stammer out.

All the while the captain's face began to take on varying hues of red before settling on a bright red that matched his hair, hearing the last word made him pop in a quite spectacular fashion, "Preoccupied? He is Preoccupied, with what, cowering in his castle while his people die around him?" Flailing about in his rage, the captain took his helmet and vented his rage upon it by simply throwing it as hard as he could at one of the nearby burnt buildings, "I had hoped my father was simply exaggerating his tales of the last Crusade, but this seems pretty similar to him telling me of how the Plegian citizenry were burned out of their homes and slaughtered like cattle while the so called noble protectors of the kingdom cowered in their castles to scared or lazy to act. "

"Let me help," Grima said as he came to a decision.

The captain could not help but scowl at the hooded mage, "Don't bother, I'll go ask Grima for help, you don't need to do anything."

Suppressing a smirk at the irony of his statement, Grima focused back on the ruin around them, "Fine then, you go back to your Duke's castle and ask Grima; meanwhile, those knights will simply cross the border and this town can go unavenged, or you can come with me and make sure that they never are able to do this to another town." If anything, Grima wanted to see these knights for himself.

The captain looked around at the town slowly, then back to the mage in front of him as he slowly nodded his acceptance, "fine, how do you think we can stop a full company with just a dozen men then?"

Grima couldn't help but smile as he thought back on all the times Chrom set him out on impossible tasks, "quite easily my friend, quite easily."

* * *

As the sun slowly climbed higher into the sky towards midday, Captain Valen's and his patrol of wyvern riders found themselves doing what he thought was stupid at best. As he spurred his mount forward with a mage he had only just met, he pondered how he expected them to stop a full company of mounted men-at-arms and knights with just one mage and a dozen riders. Of course with the raiders moving slowly, getting ahead of them and laying an ambush would be a simple task; expecting them to make up a forty man difference in the opening of an ambush was ludicrous however.

 _I suppose I could just run in there and start pirouetting with my halberd and see if that works._ Chuckling to himself,Valens decided that he might as well break the silence and enlighten himself on what sort of plan he had gotten him and his men into, "So, this plan of yours, care to share it with me?"

Grima hated heights, he hated the vertigo he got from being on some of the higher works in castles and towers, he hated the heights of the palace upper floors, he certainly hated being several hundred feet above the ground on the back of a wyvern. With his eyes glued to back of the captain's back and the handles of the saddle gripped as firmly as possible, Grima feared to move his head for the possibility of seeing the ground and experiencing the usual nausea that would follow. Closing his eyes, he focused on the question at hand and did his best to steady his voice, "well, first we find them."

"And then," Valens continued, obviously expecting more.

"Then I observe, analyze, and plan more." Grima replied nonchalantly.

"That is it," Valens replied in disbelief.

Grima sighed, "They are loaded down with multiple heavy carts as your scouts said, not only will this slow them down considerably, but as they enter the forests on the Ylissen side of the border, they will be forced to use only a few certain major trails and roads. Once we locate them, getting ahead of them and setting an initial ambush will be easily done, we target the leader and once he is gone either three things will happen. One, they mob together and push forward as a group down the narrow trails with their loot, and we simply fold back into woods and pick them off one by one until they are all buried. Two, they panic and scatter into the woods around them, we control the sky and can thus easily find them and pick off most of them, some will escape no doubt, but still a good outcome. Third, as we fold into the woods they attempt to give chase, if thats the case we simply lead them off into the woods and they will slowly spread out in the trees while we quickly regroup and pick apart the smaller disorganized groups one by one. Good enough?" Grima Finished with a smirk on his face.

Not expecting this response, Valens was simply taken aback and somewhat impressed by the hooded mage's plan, "alright, so I was wrong about you, maybe you aren't as insane as I thought."

"Thanks, I guess."

As the pair finished talking over the finer details of the plan, the lead rider signaled to the rest to land. As the dozen wyverns set down in the shrubbery of the plains, the lead rider quickly dismounted and jogged towards the captain and his passenger, "captain, we are nearing the area I saw them last; given their pace I would venture a guess that they are about ten miles ahead of us. Probably just now entering the western edge of the woods that run along the border."

The captain nodded, "good, tell the others to take a rest before we take to the sky again." At this the scout nodded and quickly left the two, "So, if your prediction that they will be using the Velson trail to escape is correct, then getting ahead of them and setting an ambush should not be difficult at all then."

Grima nodded at the captain's appraisal, "Unless they dragged their loot this far to simply abandon it halfway home and melt into the woods, they only have one path they can take home at this point."

Hearing this, the captain gestured to two of his men to join them, "Tigert, Germaine, I need you two to scout ahead and locate the Ylissens you spotted earlier, make note of their location and heading, then report back as soon as possible."

"Yes captain." the two replied before they hurried to their respective wyverns and took off.

Valens watched the two take off and fade into the distance as they set out to complete their task, once out of sight he lazily sat down against his wyvern, "you may want to get comfortable," Yawning as he shifted into a comfortable position, "we could be here for a little bit."

Grima being no stranger to battle, knew that fighting or preparing to fight were not the number one time occupiers of soldiers, but rather the waiting. Finding a comfortable spot, he propped himself up against a tree and for the first time in over a few days, fell asleep.

* * *

Grima's eyes fluttered open. Looking around he found himself walking in the familiar halls of the Palace of Ylissetol. Passing through the archway leading to the throne room, he saw Chrom standing over a table with all their maps and plans draped over it.

As Grima got closer, Chrom eventually looked up and frowned at him; as Grima reached the table Chrom walked around it until they were face to face, "So it was a lie all this time, you were just using me and the others as a joke!"

Caught off guard by Chrom's outburst, Grima could only sputter in response, "Wha- no, it wasn't! I don't know what you are talking about."

Hearing this only made Chrom angrier, "Don't know! How could you not know, what kind of fool doesn't know who they are?" Chrom then began chuckling, "I guess the same kind of fool that would believe a crock story about a god with amnesia."

As Chrom began to approach Grima and draw his sword, the tactician began to backpedal away from him towards the door, "Chrom, you have to believe me, I didn't do this, I never knew!"

His anger returned, Chrom quickened his pace towards Grima, "You could of prevented it all, all those people dead in the Plegian raids, and those lost in the following war." Stopping for a moment Chrom closed his eyes, "Emmeryn, struck down in cold blood by one of your assassins."

"Gods, Emmeryn," Grima paled at the memory of Emmeryn's corpse filled with Plegian daggers so long ago, "I never wanted her dead, you know that Chrom."

"Liar! You only got close to us so you could use us and kill us, when Emmeryn was of no use to you any more you threw her away like trash." Chrom's outburst and approach quickly causing Grima to backpedal from the furious lord.

Grima suddenly hit something behind him, looking back he saw that the doorway he came through was now simply a solid brick wall, "Chrom, I couldn't have prevented any of that, I-"

"LIES," shouted Chrom, "you could of easily done so, you just didn't want to. Why would you care, we were simply a means to an end for you, tools to be used and discarded after you were done with us. Well, you won't succeed, I'll make sure of that."

As Chrom quickly raised the Falchion and lunged towards him, Grima instinctively rushed forward with magic building in his hand, before he knew what had happened, Grima saw Chrom gripping Falchion with one and a gaping hole in his chest with another as he staggered back from Grima before finally collapsing.

Grima stood there, not knowing what to do or what to say he simply froze in place. As he stood there, he started to hear laughter, the laughter of a child to be precise, an eleven year old he knew by the voice of it. Realizing the source was getting louder and closer, Grima felt dread start to spike throughout him as he realized in but a few moments she would enter the room and see his deed.

"Robin, you're back!" spinning around, Grima saw that the doorway turned wall had now reverted back to a doorway, except now it also held the eleven year old princess in its passage.

Lucina smiled at him and began to walk towards him to welcome him home until she stopped and an inquisitive look creased her face, "Where is father, didn't he come back with you."

Almost as if his torment was scripted, Grima watched as Lucina's eyes widened as she saw her father's corpse behind Grima; "Father," she yelled as she ran by Grima and tried to pick up Chrom's body. Looking back at Grima, she noticed the blood on his hands, "You... you did this, how could you?" she said with tears in her eyes, "You were our family."

As Lucina began to rip into Grima with her words, he shrunk away as he withered under the weight of the guilt her voice thrust upon him. As she bore into him with hate and malice, Grima felt as if the world was upon his back and crushing his very being while grinding it into dust. As he began to hear Validar's signature cackling around him, the room and its contents began to spin and spin until it all blurred together and finally went black.

"I will never forgive you Robin."

* * *

Grima awoke to a feeling of dampness, after regaining his bearings he realized that he had been sweating quite a bit during his sleep, "you alright, you look as though every pore in your body emptied water while you slept?"

Looking up, Grima noticed that Captain Valens was standing over him holding a piece of bread, "Scouts are back, you were on the money; we are getting ready to take off so eat while we walk."

Valens paused as he recalled the mage's earlier nausea during the first flight that morning, "though if you can wait till we land, that might be for the best. My wyvern and I would probably not be appreciative of you vomiting half eaten bread on us mid-flight."

Grima nodded at the smiling knight as he pocketed the bread and walked with him to his wyvern. As he did so, Grima tried as best he could to dispel the dream from his thoughts.

Before he knew it the flight was in the air moving to head around the knights and get ahead of them on the trail. As Grima began to feel the nausea from before return, he shut his eyes in an attempt to combat it. Once closed though, all he could see were images from his dreams, Emmeryn, killed by assassins, loyal to him no less, of Chrom's anger and death, and finally Lucina's tear stricken face screaming at him. Eventually he left his eyes open, deciding that nausea was indeed the lesser torment.

Looking back at his passenger, Valens noted that he had never seen anyone with such an adverse reaction to heights, "I have to say, you really don't enjoy heights, do you?"

"No, I really, really don't enjoy heights." Grima felt somewhat frustrated by this, "I wasn't always like this."

Valens raised an eyebrow at this, "You learned to be afraid of heights? usually its the other way around in that regard. I take it there is a reason though."

With a frown Grima recalled the memory, "I actually took a fall from a pegasus, we were in an air battle and I got knocked from my partner's mount." Grima recalled the second battle of Themis during the first war with Plegia; in which he rode with Cordelia and her Pegasus Knights and was knocked from her Horse during the skirmish with Plegia's Wyvern Knights, "She was able to descend and catch me, but falling like that really left an impression and ever since then flying has terrified me."

Valens nodded, "Fair enough, I always liked wyverns better than Pegasi, much harder to fall off of."

Grima chuckled, "They have their ups, but I have never had a Pegasus try to eat me... at least not yet."

* * *

As Grima scoped out the location of the impending ambush, he noticed the scout Valens sent towards the Knights running towards them while signaling that they had about 15 minutes before the knights would arrive, "So this is it then, are your men ready?"

Valens was busy examining his weapons and armor prior to the fight, looking towards the woods he saw Carmine give him a thumb up, "As can be, how about you?"

"Yeah I'm se-," Grima reached into his coat to pull his sword, though his smile quickly turned into a grimace as his hand grasped an empty sheath. Cursing himself Grima realized that he had lost his sword at the table and left it there after...

"Valens noticing the mage fumble through his coat, knowingly walked towards his wyvern, "Forgot your weapon I see, no matter. We have a few spares on hand, its ludicrous how fast these things break. Got a preference, we have a few swords, some lances, and a halberd or two."

"The sword will work." the sword he lost was a gift from Chrom, part of him wanted to return to the table and retrieve it, part of him wished nothing more than to pretend that place did not exist and never return.

As Valens walked into the woods to await the signal, Grima pushed these thoughts from his mind as he leaned against a tree to wait. Not long after, he began to hear the unmistakeable sound of horse hoofs pounding on hard dirt and carriage wheels grinding into it behind them; while it was soft at first, the noise slowly built and built until Grima opened his eyes and saw the company round the turn. As Grima looked at them, any hope of them not being the culprits vanished, he could easily see they were covered in spots of soot, ash , and blood, while he could also hear some of them laughing and joking about their recent deeds of 'glory' amongst one another as they brazenly towed the final bit of damning proof with them.

Upon seeing Grima, the first of the mounted men halted and looked back towards what Grima presumed was their commander; once the the man in question took note of what he saw before him he began gesturing to several of the knights and giving orders to those around him. Grima knew he was definitely the commander at this point.

As the company of knights apprehensively halted, two of its members started to cautiously trot towards Grima with blades drawn. As they approached Grima, they noticed the markings upon his coat and simultaneously adopted cruel sneers as one turned back to the others, "hey everyone, I think we have a lost Grima-worshipper here." The two knights snickered as they got closer, "Is that right? Are you a lost little Grimleal?" Then they both took on dark looks as they glared at the mage before them, "we can be sure to make certain you go home."

As these two knights approached him, Grima felt heat build within him as he fumed over how these men, who were members of the Ylissen army, the army he had rebuilt, carried themselves like animals. How they had loosed themselves upon an innocent village the moment they were without supervision and sullied the colors they wore.

The anger built and built as they approached him and readied their blades for an unwarranted strike. Until finally the anger made Grima snap, Grima began to chuckle, not his usual lighthearted chuckle, but a deep sinister laugh that made the two knights freeze as they neared him.

Then it happened in an instant, the the two men noticed a purple aura start to emanate from the man before them; his arm shot up faster then they could follow and before they could even move a purple glowing orb the size of a melon shot from his hand. While it passed between the two men, the force of its passing knocked both of them and their mounts to the ground while its intended target, their leader, stared in shock for a moment before being hit squarely in the chest by it. With a loud crack, the orb exploded in the center of the company of knights throwing men and mount clear of the blast. While most of the men survived the impact, their leader was no longer able to rein in the ensuing chaos.

As men who were tossed about by the spell slowly stood up and staggered about as the concussion from the explosion wore off, one of the knights who had not been near the the blast wordlessly screamed as he charged the mage who had just assaulted them. With his vision narrowed and mind clouded with rage, the charging knight failed to notice the mage smirk at him, or the shouts of his compatriots behind him, or most importantly, the shadow growing around him.

Just as he realized his fellows were shouting warnings to him, he saw the shadow over him; as he noticed this though, he felt a burning pain in his shoulders as something sharp dug into him and tore him from his mount. After being carried for a good twenty feet in the air whilst shrieking in agony, he was finally released so as to plummet to the ground below.

Witnessing the arrival of several wyvern knights who were now circling the party and striking at them, cries of ambush rose from the surviving members of the company; moments later Plegian soldiers appeared from the trees flanking the road throwing javelins, spears, and axes into the crowd of knights as they frantically tried to block their aggressors attacks.

The remaining sergeants in the company at this point rallied their men and started heading off into the trees around the road to try and rout the attacker and seek cover from the wyverns above as Grima suspected they would; the Plegians seeing this, simply pulled back into the trees with ease as their pursuers slowly got deeper into the woods and quickly spread out amongst the trees.

Valens seeing that the knights had ventured into the woods and spread out, signaled his riders to prepare to attack , their combined hovering being the signal to those on the ground to prepare their own strike on those beneath the circle of wyverns above.

Noticing shadows flitting above the trees, the knights quickly halted their pursuit of one of the ambushers and began tossing their own javelins into the air in an attempt to ward off the wyverns; before, the wyverns were forced to fly high above the crowd to avoid such missiles as the open road offered no obstacle; but with the trees between them and the knights below, they could easily dodge what few attacks made it through the thick branches and foliage.

For the knights though, the thicket was insufficient to prevent the wyverns from simply crashing through the trees and crushing those they landed on, after which they would simply spring off the ground and fly back above the trees before anyone could react and try to strike back at them, leaving flattened men in their wake.

One by one the knights watched their members be carried off or crushed by the wyverns above while javelins and axes still came from the trees around them, until finally their numbers were thinned to the point that Grima and the Plegians on foot with him came out from the trees striking towards the outer edges of the enemy mob.

As the riders above continuously swooped down and disrupted the Ylissens each time they began to regroup, Grima soon found himself in the melee that had risen between the two sides.

His blade crashing against that of the knight before him, Grima snarled as he and his opponent traded several blows as they ducked and weaved to avoid their opposite's strikes while trying to land their own.

The knight finally attempted to split Grima's head with a heavy downward blow from his sword; sidestepping to avoid the blow, Grima saw his opening.

Before the knight could recover from his swing, Grima slammed his foot against his opponent's shoulder, sending the knight flailing backwards and colliding into the ground with Grima following quickly for the coup de grace as he jammed his sword into the knights exposed neck and severing it before he could react.

As Grima retracted his sword, he quickly surveyed the field around him. The Plegians seemed to have achieved the upper hand in the fighting; the Ylissens were now in total panic and being quickly cut down one after another by the footmen they faced. Every time a handful of Ylissens would try to present a solid front to the plegians, Valens and his riders would quickly descend from above shattering the trees around them and the unfortunate men below them.

The Ylissens were quickly falling all around him and soon only Grima and the Plegian soldiers were standing as bodies of the Ylissen knights littered the floor around them.

As Grima stood there examining the remains of the battlefield, he noticed that the Plegians, satisfied with their work, were heading back towards the road to regroup.

Taking one final look at the battlefield, Grima spun around and began to walk towards the road as well; rounding a tree he heard a rustle next to him, reflexes kicking in, Grima quickly ducked and rolled as a blade passed through the space his head once occupied.

His attacker however was ready to continue despite his opening's failure, he brought his arm back and struck Grima in the head with his pommel, sending Grima forward into the dirt.

Rolling over as his vision swam, Grima took sight of his enemy as he prepared a spell to try and counter the man. Locking eyes with one another, the man before Grima froze as Grima's hood had fallen and he saw his hate filled red eyes meet his own.

Not expecting the sight before him, the man hesitated long enough for Grima to quickly launch a spell into his chest knocking him back a few meters and staggering him.

Seeing the fight from above, Valens quickly descended and landed between Grima and his assailant as the knight stumbled backwards. While jabbing at the man with his halberd, Valens had his Wyvern snap at him with its fangs while attempting to sweep him off his feet with its tail.

Under assault from so many different angles at once, the swordsman's defense quickly began to crumble until he was finally caught by the wyverns tail and knocked to the ground; not missing a beat, Valens quickly followed with his halberd and stabbed the man squarely in the chest, retracting it as he crumpled to the ground in a bloody heap.

With his duel won and the threat subsided, Valens turned towards the red eyed mage with a frown, "I wondered why you kept your hood up the entire time." Dismounting from his wyvern, Valens slowly walked towards Grima, "but you helped us bring a little justice into the world," he said as he bent low and offered Grima his hand, "and for that you have my thanks regardless of what your eye color is." Grima smiled as he accepted the hand and got up from the ground. "So," Valens began with an inquisitive look, "I do have to ask who you are though?"

Grima simply frowned at the question, "You wouldn't believe me regardless, so the answer is pointless." He said dismissively.

Valens was not easily dissuaded, "Try me, I've spent some time around Plegian mages, you get used to the strange and mysterious with that bunch."

"Very well," he said with a sigh, "I was the one you were going to go ask for help originally."

Valens blinked in confusion for a moment; recalling the conversation the two held in the town, the realization dawned on him as his eyes widened and jaw went slightly slack at the claim he thought he just heard.

Grima had returned.

* * *

 **AN- Another set done, a note on OCs, I don't really enjoy shoving in a bunch of other characters, but I actually figured out a way to link everybody in rather nicely, see if you can guess what it is(there is a hint right now, over time it will get obvious who they are).**

FilmSeedot-Glad to hear you like it, hope you enjoy it.

Star Geman- I agree, I think Awakening centers on fate and the role of choice, making Grima and robin one and the same reinforces that point by making the plot of each game essentially hinge on Robin's choice. In Lucina's timeline he destroyed it ultimately, in the main line he choose to save it. As opposed to it being simply being centered around Grima possessing Robin and nullifying Robin's ability to choose.


	6. The Tornado with no direction Pt 2

Valens opened his mouth, but he was unable to produce anything other than a stupid look as he tried to process the claim he thought he had just heard before him. With Grima simply standing there staring back at him with a blank look, Valens managed to finally do more than just simply open his mouth in silence, "Do you mean to say… that you… as in yourself, is Grima, as in the Obsidian Dragon?"

Grima simply rolled his eyes, "Yes, that is exactly what I mean to say." Grima began to shift uncomfortably as he felt the stares from the all the soldiers around him, "Is there something on my face, or all you all quite done?"

One of the soldiers piped up, "Aren't you supposed to be a dragon?"

"A really big dragon," added another.

Grima simply returned the stares with his own red eyed glare before responding, "Yes, though I would rather not attract the amount of attention that a really big dragon would." Grima left out the part about him not knowing how he would even begin to "be" a dragon, let alone if he even had a desire to at this point.

Valens' brow furrowed, he looked at Grima, then looked off in thought; finally he came to a decision, "I frankly find your claim hard to swallow," looking back at Grima he adopted a frown, "at best." Valens then sighed, "But it is readily apparent you are definitely out of the ordinary, and if were to run into Grima in human form, I suppose he could look like you."

Grima frowned, "I suppose I'll take that as a compliment."

"Take it as whatever you want," the captain shot back, "regardless of all this, you need to come with me back to Vanderbaum Fortress."

"And why would I need to go with you to any place, much less some fortress in the middle of nowhere?" Grima icily replied.

"There is a college of dark mages there, while most were at the battle at the Table and subsequently perished in the fighting," Valens continued while frowning upon his thoughts of the battle, "the senior sages are still present and can hopefully shed light on your claim," closing his eyes, Valens frown however began to change to that of the look one got from eating a bad oyster, "I also need to report this to the duke," spitting out the last word with particular venom.

"I suspect I would rather not," Grima said as he thought back on all the stuck up nobles, especially Lamprius, he had to deal with in his career, "he sounds like the type of noble I have had to deal with far too much; and to be blunt, I ran out of patience for his kind long ago."

"You have to understand that I can't just let you go after that kind of claim; if you're lying it has to be dealt with here and now, if it is true," Valens took on a worried look, "I don't know what then."

Grima closed his eyes in thought for a moment; tossing around the events of the last few days: the events of the table, the discovery of the truth, and the revelation of what Ylisse was capable of without him or Chrom there to control them, this all resulted in him coming to the conclusion that the Ylissens were likely to reignite the crusade thanks to his actions at the Table, especially with Chrom supposedly killed by the Plegians. Grima frowned at the implication that he was responsible for this; by losing control of the situation he had caused Chrom's death and effectively his own in the eyes of Ylisse, thus causing innocent people to be slaughtered with undoubtedly more to follow. With a forlorn look, Grima realized that the only way to prevent all of this would be to oppose Ylisse and ensure they were unable to enact their bloody plan, at least until Lucina could hopefully gain control and bring them into line or he could contain them somehow before that.

Opening his eyes, Grima turned to Valens, "Fine, I will see your duke and mages."

* * *

While Grima found himself atop a wyvern once more, his mind was fortunately elsewhere and he avoided the nausea he normally received this high up. Instead his thoughts were on Ylisse and Lucina; in short, he was worried. While he knew that as long as Frederick drew breath that Lucina's personal safety was all but guaranteed, he also knew that she was barely twelve and that there would be regency in her stead for the next four years. This worried him immensely as Grima knew the nobles of Ylisse; while there were a handful of honorable men such as the duke of Themis, most were wolves who would not hesitate at this chance to enrich themselves at the expense of the Halidom and its people. He also knew from his encounters with them that Chrom was not far off with his remark that most were of the disposition Cornelius was in regards to Plegia and would jump at any opportunity to enact total war against Plegia once more, if not for patriotism and religon, then for simple greed.

With his mind occupied, Grima found himself at their destination and dismounting before he knew it.

"So welcome to Vanderbaum," Valens said as he flourished his arms, "follow me, we should go see the duke sooner rather than later."

"Shouldn't we wash all the blood off first?" Grima noted as he examined the formely black armor of the dismounting soldiers that was caked with dried blood and grime.

Valens simply chuckled, "we haven't seen the duke yet, why take a bath when you will undoubtedly have to take one after?"

Grima rolled his eyes, "he sounds like a shining exemplar of the nobility no doubt."

Walking with Valens as he was motioned to follow him; Grima took note of the other soldiers dismounting and tending to their wyverns, while others assisted the wounded as they awaited medics to arrive. Matching Valens brisk pace, Grima took in the sight of the brown fortress looming above him and the surrounding flatlands. Finding one of the castle's banners, Grima quickly deduced that this was not of any Plegian he knew of, so he figured that it was either a newly raised duke or simply a relatively unknown one. Either way, they soon entered the castle's main door and quickly pushed their way past the servants crowding the hall before finally coming to a halt in a small waiting room adjacent to the duke's court.

Valens turned to Grima, "wait here while I speak with the duke, I'll get you in a moment." With that Valens turned back and entered the opened the door and passed through, leaving Grima to himself. Sitting back on one of the benches in the room, Grima ignored the stares he was getting from the guards as he closed his eyes and began to gather his focus. Thinking back, Grima recalled Gaius telling him that while guards usually don't take kindly to when you shove your head next to a door to try and hear what is on the other side of it, it is never necessary to get that close. All one needs is a pair of good ears and some practice and you can listen in so well you might as well be in the room anyways.

* * *

With the guards and servants hovering around the duke clearing a passage, Valens quickly approached what was certainly the most gaudily dressed man in the room. Taking note of the duke's attire for the day, Valens consented that while his clothing was fortunately not appalling by itself for once, his rotund belly and grubby face easily made up for that regardless of what he wore.

Finally noticing the captain approaching him, the duke silenced his advisors around him and began to glare down the captain before finally snapping at him, "Where have you been, I gave strict orders that you were to return to the castle immediately, did you not receive your own man's message?"

Sighing internally, Valens began his assuredly futile counter, "My lord, my men and I only took a short detour to run down the raiders we had trac-"

"YOU DID WHAT, I SAID TO RETURN TO THE FORTRESS, NOT RUN DOWN YLISSEN RAIDERS!" with his face quickly reddening, the duke slammed the table before him with his fists, "BAH, useless soldiers, can none of you follow simple orders; captain, must I accompany you everywhere you go so that I can explain exactly what I want you to do?"

Valens barely suppressed a snicker at the thought of the duke following him into battle to face the Ylissens, "My lord, I simply took the initiative to end the raiders that have been plaguing the area and I acted on it."

Valens vainly hoped that the duke would calm down somewhat over the course of his explanation, unfortunately(but not surprisingly) the only effect his explanation had was to simply color the dukes face several varying shades of red and purple until he finally exploded.

"If I wanted you to run down those raiders I would have ordered you to do so! What I wanted you to do was return to the fortress immediately! What would have happened if the Ylissens attacked and took the fortress while you were romping about the countryside, eh, what then?"

Valens couldn't help but roll his eyes at the absurdity of this argument, "my lord, while I appreciate your confidence in the ability of myself and the men I was with, if the Ylissens had somehow arrived with sufficient forces to overrun the entire fortress in the course of twelve hours I am afraid that only having Grima himself atop the wall would change the outcome."

Unsurprisingly, the duke didn't appreciate the captain's cheeky response and quickly launched into another barrage of curses and insults at him and his incompetence. While Valens tuned out the somewhat comical sight of the short, chunky duke flailing about and screaming at him, he looked back at the door he came through, and then forward again. Reaching a decision, Valens simply spun on his heel and walked towards the door.

Coming out of his tantrum momentarily to draw breath before continuing, the duke noticed that the captain had not only been ignoring him, but was now even leaving the room without his leave to do so, "Where are you going, you don't leave until I tell you that you can!" screamed the duke. Valens for his part simply paid no heed and kept walking, thus causing the duke's eye to start twitching in response to the blatant insubordination, "GUARDS! STOP HIM!"

While Valens didn't care what the duke said or did at this point, he did take into account the two guardsmen that were now standing between him and the door. "You two have a choice before you, stop me, or having arms that aren't broken", Valens said with all the cold fury he could muster.

At this the two guards looked at Valens, and back at the fuming duke as they tried to determine which person they would rather anger at this point. They quickly came to the conclusion that while pulling latrine duty for the next month might be undesirable, having arms that were broken was even more so; thus they quickly cleared a path for the captain while shrinking under the duke's fuming gaze.

* * *

Grima found himself sprinting to catch the captain. While he gathered from his prior allusions to the duke that calling him unpleasant was generous, he did not expect Valens to simply just exit the room and silently walk away towards the stables and presumably his wyvern.

Finally catching up to the man, Grima decided that they were far enough to where he could safely press him as to what happened, "I take it you decided to not tell him about me; as much as I enjoy spending time with his kind, I am curious to your reasoning."

Valens scoffed, "Is it not obvious? I am done here; I am fed up with sitting here and putting up with men like him as the entire country burns around us. As to you, he would either think you are a madman or some sort of plotter and try to have you executed, at which point I suspect you will simply burn the place down and him with it."

Valens kneaded his head to try and soothe the headache he currently had, "while seeing him set on fire may actually make me smile, I would rather not see the place and everyone with it get dragged with him."

Grima looked at him inquisitively, "So I take it you won't mind if I take my leave then?"

"No, but one condition though," Valens paused, unsure of his next statement, "let me go with you."

Grima stopped, struck dumb by the request he did not see coming, "but why? You said it yourself you don't know whether I am full of it or not." Grima managed to sputter out.

Valens took on a despondent look, "Can't you see, all I do here is take orders from those who couldn't care whether the country lives or dies. I am either stuck in forts protecting cowardly lords who are too scared of their own shadow to venture out and do something about the chaos all around them or going on patrols where all I do is observe the aftermath and loathe myself for being unable to do more." Valens sighed and looked down at his feet as his voice took on a quiet tone, "yesterday was the first time since the end of the Mad King's war that I actually felt good about myself and what I was doing. I don't know whether you are Grima or not, but frankly, I don't give a damn whether you're Naga, Grima, or the bloody wyvern fairy. All I know is that you seem to care what happens here and you have the strength to actually do something about it."

As Grima stood silently and listened to Valens frantically explain his reasoning, Valens eventually finished and simply looked at him while silently pleading to come along. Grima simply nodded his head, "I will tell you that despite what you think, I am not really sure what to do. I have my memory of the past twenty years, but I have no clue what being Grima actually means; Validar said I had great power and ability, but he neglected to explain much beyond that, and since he went and died he isn't around for me to ask him. All I know is that one of the things he did was remove the curse that limited me before, but I don't think simply being able to throw a bigger fireball will really help resolve Plegia's issues." At this Grima took on a sullen look, "And I really don't know where to look for answers."

"Wait," hearing the last bit Valens sprung to life with enough force to jolt Grima as well, "Wouldn't the Grimleal know?"

"Aren't they all dead or scattered right now? We might be able to find some survivors, but that seems like a crap shoot on whether we find some random acolyte or someone who actually knows whats going on," Grima quipped back. He was almost positive that Validar had gathered all the senior Grimleal at the table and they were either killed or in hiding.

Valens however lost no steam at this, "So what if you can't ask them, they are mages, mages write down everything. They probably have a library somewhere, probably at the Dragon's Table if I had to guess."

Grima flinched at the implication of having to go back to the table, but he couldn't argue the logic; the answers he needed about himself would most likely be there, if anywhere at all. Grima shuddered at what he would have to do, "Then I guess the Table is the place to look."

Valens lit up immediately while simultaneously grabbing Grima's arm and nearly pulling it from his socket as he began dragging him to the stable, "EXCELLENT! Then let us go immediately."

"Damn it, my arm man, my arm, let go!" Grima shouted as the Captain dragged him to his Wyvern in excitement at the prospect of having purpose once more.

Bursting through the stable door, all the Wyverns and the riders from Valen's unit within lazily looked up at the two men barging in; most letting their heads fall once they determined it was nothing worth their time or going back to their business, while a single wyvern kept its head up and awaited its rider.

Upon reaching said wyvern, Valens finally released Grima from his grasp as he quickly set about the task of readying his mount while Grima rubbed his sore arm. Looking back at Grima, Valens noticed his arm and flushed in embarrassment, "uhhh, sorry about that, I got a little carried away."

Satisfied with his arm, Grima looked to the captain with a glare, "Just try to not rip my arm off next time, I prefer keeping my body parts together thank you." Grima began to chuckle slightly, "It's alright though, let us just set off though."

Hearing this, one of the riders joined the two, "I see you manged to piss off the duke again, will we be on latrine duty or double shifts this time?"

Valens laughed at the notion, "neither Carmine, that fat fuck can go to hell. I'm done, if you all want to go with me or stay here thats your choice. But its readily apparent men like him are the reason Plegia has gone to hell and isn't recovering, I'll throw my lot in with a supposed god, after all, he did more in a day than many have done in years for this country."

Listining to this, the soldiers murmoured to themselves, unsure of what to do.

Closing his eyes, Grima perked up as he heard the telltale clatter of weapons and armor on the move, lots of it he thought, "I think we have overstayed our welcome, I can hear shouting and movement outside; your duke may of finally threatened the men enough to come collect you."

Perking his ears up, Valens closed his eyes and listened, "that does sound like his high pitched wail in the distance." With that Valens hopped upon his saddle, and grabbed Grima by the collar as in order to hoist him aboard, "no time to lose then, get on."

"Wait I can do it myse-mmmph," Grima blurted out as Valens dragged him aboard and pushed his mount to take off. Scanning the ground, Valens eventually made out the jumping figure of an overweight, gaudily dressed man in the distance. Figuring it was the duke; Valens gifted him the bird as he flew off into the distance.

The eleven soldiers that made up Valens squad looked at their captain, and then the fuming duke shouting obscenities at his shrinking form, and with little more thought were soon soaring off behind him. As determined as he to see a better tomorrow for their homeland.

* * *

Hopping off the wyvern, Grima sullenly surveyed the tower that was before the group. While the dread had been building up for the past hour as the tower appeared on the horizon and grew in size as they approached it. Grima was still unprepared for what he felt standing beneath its ominous gaze once more.

"Eerie isn't it," Valens said quietly as he slowly looked around, "it has only been barely a week and you can't even tell a battle was fought here. The sand has already swallowed everything up."

Grima nodded in silence as he stared up at the dark structure looming over the two of them.

"Have you ever been here before?" Valens asked.

Grima thought of saying no, but he decided it really didn't matter anymore, "Unfortunately yes, though I wish I could say otherwise."

"I don't blame you for the sentiment," Valens responded as he nodded in agreement, "Well, the sooner we head in, the sooner we can find those answers."

"Yeah, and the sooner we can leave," Grima quipped back at the man.

With that the group of thirteen and over a half a dozen wyverns slowly made their way towards the bleak structure before them, unaware of what waited within its dark halls.

* * *

 **Good news, work settled down and I can enjoy myself again, as such I am posting up this next reworked chapter. I also have next weeks mostly finished so thats good as well. So, the biggest change is the inclusion of more people, personally, I don't like OC, but I did figure out a way of getting more people into the story in a sensible way that can mesh in with existing characters. As time goes on you will get hints on who they ultimately are(there is already one there), I don't think its really that difficult to realize who they are if you consider they are in the base game and a packaged group of 12. That should be a dead giveaway right there.**

 **Also, as I wrap up the first part of the story, the second part of the story approaches and it allows more interaction with the shepherds and children. The bulk of the interactions with child characters are conversational as they aren't really fighting yet, but the older shepherds are all going to be mostly fighting interactions. I won't be focusing on all of them, so if anyone has a fight or child interaction set they really want to see let me know in a pm or review and I'll look at doing something for them. Don't ask for Frederick, Tharja, Noire, Morgan(she isn't present in this timeline), or Lucina, they already have rolls and scenes plotted for them so if thats who you want then you can rejoice.**

 **Finally, Fire emblem heroes, playing it and having fun, Rolled a five star Robin and a four star cammila in my first and second orb sets. By the way, get cammila to five stars, she is beyond ridiculous with darting blow, a brave axe, and decent stats.**

 **Either way, read, review, have fun.**


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